When safety Andre Marcel Henderson came off the field in the Mercyhurst game Sept. 19 with his right arm dangling limply at his side, Indiana University of Pennsylvania head football coach Lou Tepper thought he'd suffered a "stinger," a very common -- and usually transient -- injury in contact sports. If he couldn't return to that game, surely he'd be ready to play the following week.

Coach Tepper was off by at least a year.

A stinger is a stretch or compression of the brachial plexus, a network of nerves under the collar bone (clavicle) that travels across the shoulder and into the arm. It manifests itself in a sharp, stinging pain radiating down the arm to the hand, accompanied by numbness or tingling that usually lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes.

Stingers usually happen when the head is pushed forcefully sideways and down. This bends the neck and pinches the surrounding nerves. Roughly half of college football players sustain a stinger at one time or other, most often while blocking or tackling.

Andre Henderson, now 23, had suffered the Mother of All Stingers. Six months after the injury, he still couldn't lift his arm.

The young man and his coach feared his playing days might be over.

For the IUP Crimson Hawks, this would be a big loss.

"I don't think there is a better free safety in the league," Mr. Tepper said. "He's a kid who might have a chance to play beyond [college]. I had [Pittsburgh Steelers free safety] Ryan Clark at LSU. They are of the same mold."

The young man was seeing Sanjay Bhatia, then the chief neurosurgery resident at Allegheny General Hospital, for treatment. When it was clear that his arm was not responding to physical therapy, Dr. Bhatia thought the only alternative was surgery. Dr. Bhatia's boss, James Wilberger, chairman of the department of neurosurgery, agreed.

The doctors thought the formation of scar tissue was preventing the nerves from healing, impeding normal electrical activity.

Surgery to correct this problem is relatively rare, and only "helps 50 percent of the people with this problem," Dr. Wilberger said. It typically takes six months to recover from the surgery. Physicians at AGH had never performed this operation on a football player before.

"I was a little apprehensive about the surgery," the patient admitted. But if he wanted to play football again -- or just to have normal use of his arm -- there was no alternative. The operation was performed April 27.

After the scar tissue was removed, "he had an unusually quick response," Dr. Wilberger said.

"I was very surprised," Mr. Henderson said. "For the first six or seven months, I couldn't move [the injured arm]. But almost right after the surgery, I could lift my forearm up."

He has been cleared to play football again, and has rejoined the Crimson Hawks.

But his journey isn't yet over. Though his arm is healing nicely, it is very weak, as a result of more than six months of total inactivity. So he's been doing physical therapy and working out in the Crimson Hawk weight room to rebuild his strength.

"He's been cleared to play, but he isn't strong enough to play," Mr. Tepper said. "If he isn't ready to play by the third or fourth week of the season, we'll redshirt him." The Crimson Hawks play their first game Saturday at home against Southern Connecticut State.

But whether Andre Henderson gets back on the gridiron this season or next, he's back on track toward his goal. He expects to graduate with a degree in sports administration in the spring.

"Coaching [in high school] is the No. 1 thing I'd like to do," he said. "I want to give kids some of the mentorship I did not have growing up."

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