Former BA Kicker Battling Paralysis

By Kyle Dierking, NewsOn6.com

BROKEN ARROW, OK -- One yard, three feet, a mere 36 inches: the painted lines on a football field proclaim progress and signify setbacks. Peter Jessee's swift synergy of kicking field goals effortlessly sailed footballs yards through the air, into the uprights.

"I don't think there's anything tougher than going out on a football field and being the place kicker and having the pressure of trying to kick a field goal," said Peter's father, Bud Jessee.

Peering into the picturesque world of Peter Jessee revealed a three sport star. Kicking a soccer ball, skating in ice hockey or place-kicking for the Broken Arrow Tigers was commonplace, but his path was groomed for greener pastures. Peter was set to attend the University of Oklahoma this fall, but pomp and circumstance barely finished playing before the unthinkable happened.

"My graduation present was a wheelchair," Peter said. "It's not exactly what I had in mind."

Fifteen days after his May 8th graduation, Peter and his sister were taking a surfing lesson on a family vacation in Hawaii. That's when Peter started to experience excruciating back pain.

"He carried his surfboard up to the beach and put it up and shortly he came up and flopped down just like boys do," said Peter's mother, Janet Jessee. "But then he complained his back was killing him."

"He asked me if we could get him a massage because there was a masseuse right there on the beach and I said, ‘sure,'" Bud said. "We thought he might have muscle spasms and we thought a massage would help get rid of those muscle spasms. About 45 minutes into an hour long massage his legs went numb and whenever we got him up off the table he couldn't walk."

Peter was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with Surfer's Myelopathy, a rare

"He didn't do anything stupid, he didn't do anything dangerous and he didn't even fall," Bud said, "and yet he's paralyzed."

"I had never heard of something called Surfer's Myelopathy," Janet said. "I always associated spinal cord injuries with a car wreck, motorcycle wreck where the vertebrae's would slide and cut the spinal cord or nick it."

After two turbulent months in a Colorado rehabilitation hospital, Peter returned to Oklahoma in August.

Like football, every little movement and muscle twitch has turned his life into a game of inches.

"It just takes time, one step at a time," Peter said.

"It's so slow but yet someone who hasn't been here every day and they know where we started from and they see him today and they see us having a lot of progress," Bud said.

Through the struggle Peter has found a bestfriend who used to be a foe. Peter and Carl Salazar battled for kicking duties last season. Now, Carl is honoring his kicking cohort by wearing number 39. It's the same jersey number Peter wore during his senior season.

"Peter kind of took Carl under his wing and tutored him, counseled him and made him a friend," Bud said. "Whenever Carl was down Peter was there to pick him up. Now that Peter's down, Carl's there to pick him up."

As Peter progresses in his rehab, inches will turn into feet. Feet will translate into yards. Yards will yield touchdowns. And walking again will truly be the ultimate end zone celebration.

"We really believe he will walk again," Bud said. "Somehow we will figure out how he will walk."

"I have to keep that in my mindset that I'm going to walk again because this injury is too stupid to keep me down," Peter said.