 Ski Jasper Alberta News
Skier Spencer Recovery
FRIDAY, 4 AUGUST 2006
Less than six months ago, 2002 Olympian Dane Spencer (Boise, ID) broke his neck in a racing crash; today, he's up and walking without a cane or crutches...and planning his return to skiing, possibly this winter.
"Things are going well. I don't have any complaints. In general, I'm healing more quickly than expected and I feel pretty good right now. I guess I'm getting used to my new state," he said. "I'm just happy to be fully functioning...
"I've been getting out. I went for a 12-mile hike in the mountains and I've been doing lot of projects on my house," he said. Spencer, who raced in not only the 2002 Olympics (16th in giant slalom) but four World Championships, too, is a two-time U.S. alpine champion and has been nominated to his 12th season on the U.S. Ski Team.
Last Feb. 14, just after being told in the start house of a NorAm downhill at Montana's Big Mountain that Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) had won the combined gold medal at the Olympics in Torino, Italy, Spencer crashed and suffered a broken neck (that required a double fusion of the C2 and C3 vertebrae), fractured pelvis and multiple injuries. As his longtime girlfriend, Jasmine Furnish, who was on-scene when he crashed, told The Associated Press, "I had this crazy flash in my mind. Here's Ligety, this 21-year-old who is probably having the best day of his ski career, and on the same day Dane is having the worst day of his ski career."
He left a Boise hospital March 20; "I'm lucky to be alive," he said. He used a walker at the Boise home he shares with Furnish before switching to crutches and a cane. He discarded the cane May 5, he said.
Full medical approval required
He won't be in New Zealand this month when his teammates stage their annual midsummer on-snow camp, and he's not ready to climb back into a World Cup start gate, he conceded, but Spencer's accelerated recovery time has him optimistic about receiving full medical go-ahead from Ski Team doctors and being back on skis by Thanksgiving. Racing would be farther down his personal "mountain."
He did some body surfing in California last week at a family reunion "and I'm doing some pretty normal things. My intense activity isn't up to par in regards to doing really aggressive activities, the explosive or exercise-type things," Spencer continued. "But, yeah, the general overall consensus seems to be ‘How'd you get so far so fast?'
"I mean, I see some of my doctors at the hospital when I'm doing therapy and they kinda smile and have that ‘Do you know this is like a miracle?' look on their face like they can't believe it either. I don't have anything to gauge it against. I do what I feel comfortable doing," he said, "and I know how fortunate I am to be doing it.
"I'm just doing activities, not pushing deep into my pain level - just staying active is a big part of recovery for now."
Dr. Christian Zimmerman, the neurosurgeon who operated on Spencer's neck in March and fused the two vertebrae, said he's impressed by the recovery, but he told AP he had "that very long and difficult-for-him discussion" with Spencer and isn't ready to give him the go-ahead. "If we're able to get a CT scan of his cervical spine, and it shows a solid, bone fusing - which is what I'm expecting, I'm going to leave the door open for him." But that's weeks - at a minimum - away, he indicated.
Melinda Roalstad, medical director for the U.S. Ski Team, echoed Zimmerman. "Dane's looking very good and he's been doing very well, as Dr. Zimmerman indicated. We're certainly all happy with his recovery," she said Thursday, "but he knows he still has some medical steps to go through and the proper channels. We're talking about his neck and his pelvis, so when he's cleared by Dr. Zimmerman, he'll still have to go through our medical approval process."
Spencer, 28, said his rapid recovery - "so far" - is forcing him to consider some things he never would have thought about in March, such as dealing with equipment companies. "Now that I'm getting better faster than expected, I have to look at it," he said.
Lands Tamarack resort headgear deal
He's signed a headgear sponsorship deal with Tamarack, a four-season resort in McCall, Idaho, which is two years old. "We had it last year, starting [at December's VISA Birds of Prey races] at Beaver Creek, but then I got injured and they didn't get much exposure...and so Tamarack's been great about extending the deal. We're finalizing the details of how I can help them in various ways, not just wearing their name and logo on my headgear."
His plans call a move to Park City, Utah, in October for fulltime training at the Ski Team facility. If all goes well, he hopes to be on snow in Colorado - "even in a very limited way" - in November - "but we'll have to see how everything goes. Returning to the World Cup is an absolute priority, but I want to be ready and the Ski Team, of course, wants me 100 percent healthy.
"I know I have to be very smart about how I look at that return. We'll play it a little bit by ear and obviously hope for the best," he said.
This weekend, Spencer will be in Park City, displaying some of his photography - along with teammates Erik Schlopy (Park City, UT) and Chip Knight (Stowe, VT) - as part of the annual arts festival. He and Schlopy recently bought a house in Park City, "a real fixer-upper that needs a lot of work."
Also on his calendar is a benefit golf tournament for him set for Oct. 3 in Boise and being organized by former World Cup aerials champion - and 2002 Olympic teammate - Jeret "Speedy" Peterson (Boise, ID). "Speedy's doing all the work on it, and I'm in awe of what he's done so far," Spencer said.
And a lot of people are in awe of what Spencer's done so far, too. He's not close to resuming his quest to achieve some of the goals he's long held in ski racing, but after less than six months in recovery, every doctor would agree he gets a mythical gold medal in "recovery."
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