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posted 02/04/2010 Community pulls together for injured Norwood player
By Jake Seiner | February 4, 2010
The road to recovery for Norwood High sophomore Matt Brown is not expected to be an easy one after he fractured the fourth and fifth vertebrae in his neck during a Jan. 23 hockey game against Bay State Conference foe Weymouth. If there’s any comfort available for Brown and his family, it’s that the road will not be traveled alone. “Within our town, support has been pretty amazing, but what I’ve been most amazed by is from the hockey community throughout the state,’’ Norwood High athletic director Brian McDonough said earlier this week. “If there’s a plus side anywhere in this story, that’s one.’’ Brown underwent successful surgery last Wednesday to stabilize his neck, and is in the process of beginning his rehabilitation.
In the meantime, support is not in short supply for the Brown family. On Jan. 25, a prayer service was held at St. Catherine’s Church in Norwood; over 800 people attended. The Facebook group “PRAY FOR MATT BROWN #3’’ has grown to over 22,000 members as of Tuesday, less than a week and a half after the accident. A few days after the accident, the Browns received an autographed New York Rangers jersey from hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. A similar gesture was made by Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron, who sent a signed jersey to Brown last week. The Bruins also sent a jersey signed by the entire squad. Where the Brown family is most likely to need support, however, is financially. An account has been opened at Norwood Bank to help the family cover the anticipated costs. At high school sporting events throughout the state, teams have been holding 50/50 raffles, with the proceeds going to the Brownie Points fund. The Massachusetts’ State Hockey Coaches’ Association has asked that all its member schools hold 50/50 raffles on Saturday, and that each school hold a moment of silence before all games that day. The Browns are exploring rehabilitation centers for Matt, and one of their top choices is the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, the same center that Boston University hockey player Travis Roy used after sustaining a similar injury in 1995. Jared Coppola, a football player at St. John’s Prep in Danvers, was also treated there after suffering a cervical fracture last September. If the Browns are unable to get their son into the Shepherd Center or a rehab center in Philadelphia, Boston University alum Mike Eruzione has vowed to use connections with the Buoniconti Fund to get Matt into the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Eruzione and Brown’s cousin, former Norwood High star and head coach Peter Brown, were Terrier teammates in the mid-1970s.
People who were close to Roy when he sustained his injury appreciate the task that awaits Brown, and know the power that support from the surrounding community can have in aiding the recovery effort. “The worst thing that ever happened to me in my 37 years of coaching was the Travis Roy accident,’’ BU coach Jack Parker said. “The best thing that ever happened to me in my 37 years of coaching at BU was how the hockey community, Boston University in particular, and the rest of the hockey community supported Travis.’’ Parker gave credit to Eruzione for leading many of the fund-raising efforts to help Roy, and thanks to an overwhelming and immediate response, approximately two-thirds of all donations were received within a week of Roy’s accident. “It was fabulous to have that response for Travis in the short term, to see so many people were concerned and who cared about him,’’ Parker said. “It was even greater in the long term because financially, he was taken care of.’’ Eruzione said that it will be huge for the family to see all the support. “It just makes it that much easier for them when they have their down time and they know there’s so many people that care about them,’’ said Eruzione, who has been in contact with the Brown family and brought Matt a signed US Olympic jersey last week.
“There’s a lot of people who don’t get that support and that’s why it’s so important that people reach out for the Brown family to help out.’’
Coaches throughout Massachusetts can’t recall a situation similar to this at the high-school level; similarly, they can’t remember a situation in which the hockey community responded in such force. “You look back at the incident with Travis Roy; this is going to be high-school hockey’s equivalent,’’ Framingham coach Paul Spear said. “I think you’re going to find that support’s going to come from all over the country, and not just from high-school hockey.’’
Donations to aide Matt Brown in his recovery can be sent to: : Brownie Points P.O. Box 398 Norwood, MA 02062
