Elijah Sowerby Rugby Paralysis Needs Treatment

Elijah Sowerby is a kind, gifted, and passionate instructor cherished by everyone at my Christian-based martial arts studio Self Defense for U in Hurst, Texas. Friday September 23rd Elijah could no longer function due to the most unlikely cause. A head-butt from David, his two-year-old, flared up all the old dysfunctions from an old exceptionally severe traumatic head injury (TBI) and now needs intensive therapy to function. While Elijah served in the military in 2014, a fellow rugby player charged into him full force delivering a massive blow to his left temple. The sound of the impact was like heavy metal plates clashing in his head. However, unlike Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa who was transported immediately to the hospital on Sept. 29, Elijah wasn't instantly immobilized by the impact. His coach didn't recognize an injury on the field as an excuse to leave the game for an evaluation and dismissed the incident. Elijah never got evaluated. Three months later Elijah became completely paralyzed from a slow hemorrhage to his brain. This was like having a stroke that paralyzed his entire body.

Because Elijah hadn't gone to combat, the military refused to pay for any therapy, so Elijah spent four years in a wheelchair, trying desperately to regain connections to his brain on his own while also being tortured each day by a never-ending excruciating headache. Only Benadryl relieved it by knocking him out for a few hours. Left in a dark room alone and without any guidance, Elijah would spend countless hours each day focusing on moving one finger, then another, then his hand and so forth. He says that was simply the only thing left for him to do. Over a three month period, thanks to his willpower, Elijah did regain some mobility on his own, but only to have one side fall repeatedly paralyzed, having to start all over again. Four years after the incident, in 2018 one enlightened doctor finally gave him a one-time electric shock treatment that jump-started his “hardware”. It got him out of this vicious back-to-square-one cycle and remarkably let him slowly rebuild his muscle and functionality. Miraculously, Elijah got well enough that a year ago, he could finally start teaching at Self Defense for U, where he had trained until he joined the military.

I have been taking lessons from Elijah until this flare-up. His genuine love for teaching was evident from my first group class with him. He is so attentive to every student's learning style, and at the end of each day he would come home describing all the highlights of his day at work to his wife, Stephanie so that she too gets to relive his enthusiasm. He is truly gifted, so it came as a shock to learn about the unimaginable trial of faith he has been through. To this day, Elijah still gets nauseous and dizzy every morning, attributing it to his "new normal". Everyone is always so careful not to hit Elijah in his head, and safety is a high priority at this particular studio.

Well, unfortunately, and ironically, Friday, September 23rd Elijah got a serious flare-up of his old injury when his two-year-old son David accidentally head-butted Elijah in his forehead while they were playing. In most cases, this might cause a small contusion, something a parent would laugh about the following day, but in Elijah's case, it's been one month now, and he is barely able to walk in a straight line slowly, still very sensitive to all lights and sounds. A few minutes of everyday activities at home leave him dizzy and exhausted. It's so frustrating for him to still have to retreat into a dark room, missing precious quality time with his two toddlers, who miss him and are wondering why they suddenly see their dad acting so differently and suffering so much.

Luckily, Stephanie got a gem of a referral from her chiropractor, a neurologist in Coppell TX, who offers the most advanced treatments, specializing in veterans with traumatic brain injuries similar to Elijah's. Last week Elijah started intensive therapy, 2-4 hours daily, five days a week, all the things that should have been done years ago to rebuild his “software” connections, an absolute necessity at this point to regain his functionality. Although Elijah feels wasted at the end of the day, he is elated as he feels himself starting to improve gradually. He handles this workload well, and his neurologist is optimistic. Elijah is making slow but steady progress.

The clinic has been gracious thus far, starting full therapy before receiving any payment, but it's $5,000 per week. Fingers crossed, and recovery goes as planned, it will still cost $15,000. We need to raise this money before Thanksgiving. While Elijah is out, students, family and friends are gathering some money to help cover monthly bills for him, his wife, two toddlers and a dog living in Burleson, Texas. However, we ask your help in covering his medical bills as he doesn't have coverage through his medical insurance.

We are all holding our breath for his recovery. It would be a real tragedy for him to stop therapy due to lack of funds when he is this far along and hopeful. So many people love him and await his return back to normal life. A $25 donation would be much appreciated, and a $50 would help us reach our goal on time. Anything you can give would bring Elijah one step closer to his full recovery.

Please share with your network of friends. If you are local, I'm sure Elijah would love to offer a free one-on-one lesson to his top five supporters once it's all behind him. I will be posting updated videos of his therapy and recovery progress at the bottom of this page. Thank you so much for reading, and a special thanks for every contribution, thought and prayer.

Zelle [phone redacted] or stephanieeddinsATyahoo.com

Venmo @stephaniesowerby

CashApp $stephaniesowerby

A little about Elijah:

Elijah once shared a funny story. After electric shock, one side was severely atrophied but he managed to drive, so one time he saw a couple of women stuck on the side of the road with a blown-out tire. He got out and with his entire paralyzed weight bracing over his cane on his "normal" side, he hobbled over, changed their tire, then hobbled back to his car Hunchback of Notre-Dame style and was gone. Gotta imagine the look on those ladies' faces watching a half-paralyzed man get them moving again.

Growing up in a missionary family in North Carolina, Elijah had spent all his free time playing outdoors, hopping giant boulders and “skiing” down hills on pine needles. At 11 years old, he joined Self Defense for U, a martial arts studio in Hurst, Texas, which became like a second home until he was accepted into the Green Berets, U.S. Army Special Forces at age seventeen. Elijah has always been agile, one of the strongest and most athletic among his peers. He thrives in environments that challenge him mentally and physically.

Therefore, the journey of overcoming his brain injury forced him to "shut down" those parts of himself to shift his life's goals and ambitions. Still, thankfully Elijah has a contagious optimistic nature and everyone who knows Elijah feels blessed that he has found his new passion in teaching. If his recovery continues uninterrupted, Elijah may recover his full physical potential as he had nearly done so until this setback a month ago!

Side note: Head trauma of this extent is unusual even for a game of rugby, but then again, I learned that any concussion, especially if sustained multiple times, typical for full-contact sports like boxing, MMA fighting or football, can lead to chronic blackouts, memory lapses and early dementia. What happened to Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa Sept. 29 is too common. After Tagovailoa suffered repeated head trauma last month, The NFL and NFL Players Association (NFLPA) made some small modifications to the league’s concussion protocol, but didn't address injury prevention.