Storm forward Hudson Foley. Photo Credit: Tammenithia Diesel - Diesel Powered Images

By Shane Clausing

Foley back skating

Hudson Foley back skating with Storm after suffering broken vertebrae

Mar 27, 2021 | 7:00 AM

Grande Prairie Storm rookie forward Hudson Foley is back skating with the club after suffering a major injury.

On October 31, Foley and the Storm were facing off against the Fort McMurray Oil Barons in an exhibition game. During the game, Foley was skating up the ice near the boards with the puck, and at the side of his eye, a Fort McMurray player hit him into the boards at an awkward angle.

While the hit was clean, Foley’s head would hit the boards first and he would end up on the ground injured before being taken to the Storm locker room.

“I was down for a bit and then went to the hospital because I was having a bit of trouble breathing,” explained Foley. “It was like I was breathing through a straw.”

From the locker room, Foley would head to the hospital, where he got some news he didn’t expect.

“I thought I had just broken some ribs, but then I got some scans, and I had a broken vertebra.”

Foley ended up breaking his T-4 and T-3 vertebra. Despite going head first into the boards, he never suffered a concussion on the play.

“I was pretty banged up and couldn’t really move around at all. They stuck me in a brace and a wheelchair, so I was pretty much bedridden.”

Foley tells EverythingGP he was surprisingly only in the hospital for eight hours and thankfully his orthopedic surgeon said he would be expected to make a full recovery.

When he returned to his home in Teepee Creek, Foley was prescribed some Tylenol to take for the next six to eight weeks.

The medication he says would be used to help him sleep.

“I couldn’t sleep at night unless I had the pills because the pain was so bad. I’d wake up at night if the pills would wear off.”

Throughout his recovery, Foley needed help doing simple tasks like trying to walk or even going to the bathroom.

After about 12-14 weeks of laying down in bed, Foley was able to slowly start to get himself out of his brace. The brace went from his neck all the way down to his hips and was used to hold everything in place.

“I was able to take (the brace) off for maybe an hour a day and turn my head back and forth. It was a very long process and a lot of work just to be able to do the normal things that I normally do, like bend over and pick something up or look around, just because of how seized up my body was, I was sitting and not moving for a couple of months.”

Foley says his surgeon, Dr. Akinbiyi, was a big reason as to why he was able to recover. Dr. Akinbiyi referred him to Dave Hurta at Kinesis Physical Therapy in Grande Prairie who helped put Foley on a program where he would be able to rehabilitate at home.

“At the start of it, I was just laying on my back lifting my head up, setting my head down and tucking my chin and turning my head, which is essential when you have a neck injury to rebuild those muscles around your neck to protect yourself again. I had lost a lot of that from not moving.”

Since then, Foley has been rehabbing to the point where he is now able to walk fully and even get back to skating with the Storm.

He’ll help out with taking shots on the goalies before practice and once the main group gets on he’ll participate in the first 2-3 drills before the intensity picks up.

There is no timetable for when Foley could potentially return to the Storm lineup, but he says he’s up for the challenge to get back.

“Ultimately, I just need to keep building muscles, getting stronger, being able to ultimately protect myself and make my body protect itself. I got to make sure that I’m in good enough shape to take hits again.”

“I’m just trying to do more every week and feel better every week so I can ultimately return back to playing.”