Synergy out of Tragedy

On October 20, 1995, Travis Roy leapt over the boards and onto the ice for his first game as a Boston University Terrier. Racing toward the puck, Roy (COM’00, Hon.’16) set up a routine play he had made many times as a star forward in high school. But on this night, he stumbled at an awkward angle and crashed headfirst into the boards. The impact cracked his fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae, severely damaging his spinal cord and paralyzing him from the neck down.

The crowd at Walter Brown Arena—which only minutes earlier had cheered as BU’s 1994–95 NCAA championship banner was raised to the rafters in a pregame ceremony—suddenly went silent as team trainers and medical personnel rushed to the prone player. Roy’s father climbed onto the ice, urging his son to get up. He couldn’t. Roy’s career as a collegiate hockey player was over, 11 seconds after it had begun.

After emergency surgery and recovery at Boston Medical Center, Roy was flown to Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The type of injury he’d sustained cuts off or impedes messages that the brain sends, via the spinal cord, to the muscles. He regained some movement in his right arm, however, and with the help of a spring-loaded brace, worked on feeding himself and steering his wheelchair. That wasn’t enough for Roy, who was determined to graduate.

He returned to BU the next fall, where he worked with Sargent experts to continue his recovery. He did graduate, and went on to create the Travis Roy Foundation, which funds research and provides equipment for people with spinal cord injuries. The foundation has maintained a close relationship with the University, one that was bolstered last October, when the Travis M. Roy Professorship in Rehabilitation Sciences was established at Sargent. The endowed professorship will support the College as it leads research in rehabilitation, ultimately helping others who are suffering from a range of neurological disorders.

Fully Engaged

Roy’s return to BU wasn’t a typical back-to-school transition. “It was only 10 months after my injury,” Roy says. “I did my therapy right there at Sargent College, up on the sixth floor,” just across Commonwealth Avenue from the College of Communication, where he majored in mass communication. Sargent faculty, students, and staff—including Terry Ellis, an assistant professor of physical therapy & athletic training and director of the Center for Neurorehabilitation—assisted Roy with the physical therapy that enabled him to continue his studies.

“I spent almost a year trying to get my right biceps as strong as possible to maximize my function,” Roy says. Meanwhile, Sargent physical therapists and occupational therapists—including former professors Paula McDonald and Carolyn Podolski—worked with him on his right wrist, “giving me stability to operate the joystick to steer my wheelchair.”

“It was just trying to use the technology that was available and make it work with the limited use that I had. And it was great. [The therapy] certainly provided me with some confidence… Which was a big deal for me.”

—Travis Roy

Crucially, the OT team also helped set up Roy’s dorm room, giving him an automatic door opener that he could operate with a remote control, making sure his desk was the right height, and installing voice-recognition software on his computer. “It was just trying to use the technology that was available and make it work with the limited use that I had,” he says. “And it was great. [The therapy] certainly provided me with some confidence, to be able to come and go as needed and do the work on my computer. Which was a big deal for me.”

That’s all part of the job description, says Clinical Associate Professor Karen Hutchinson, chair of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Spinal Cord Injury Special Interest Group. “What physical and occupational therapists are doing is figuring out, given the amount of function you have, how to best maximize functional capacity and facilitate reengagement in everyday activities,” she says.

The generosity of strangers—including $7.23 from a young boy who emptied his piggy bank and $5,000 from a couple who’d been saving the funds for their honeymoon—and BU volunteers, along with an NCAA insurance policy for catastrophic injuries, have continued to provide Roy with the assistance he needs to live a busy life. He has 24-hour home care at his Kenmore Square apartment, help getting showered and dressed, and transportation to his many motivational-speaking engagements.

Not all people who have a spinal cord injury (SCI)—and there are an estimated 273,000 of them in the United States—have that level of care. It’s why Roy created his foundation. Since 1997, he has raised more than $8 million to furnish those who have SCI with wheelchairs, vehicle lifts, and computer-assisted technology. In addition, the foundation has funneled $2.1 million toward research in hopes of one day finding a cure for SCI.

Bringing it Back to BU

In October 2015, 20 years after the accident that altered Roy’s life, an anonymous group of donors gave Sargent a $2.5 million gift to establish the professorship in Roy’s name. The gift will also support an ongoing partnership with his foundation through funding for staffing as well as office space. The professorship and partnership will “provide specific support and direction for innovative research, exemplary training, and scientific leadership in pursuing the shared goals of Sargent College and the Travis Roy Foundation,” Dean Christopher A. Moore said in announcing the gift at an event honoring Roy at Agganis Arena.

An anonymous group of donors gave Sargent a $2.5 million gift to establish the Travis M. Roy Professorship.

Sargent anticipates that the named professorship will attract a top researcher in the rehabilitation sciences, Hutchinson says. While “SCI research is in its infancy here at BU,” she says, Sargent’s blend of disciplines positions the College to study many facets of these injuries. In addition to motor and sensory changes, SCI impacts every system of the body, from digestion and kidney function to bladder and cardiovascular performance.

No matter the new hire’s specialization, Roy says, the research he or she undertakes should ultimately help not only survivors of spinal cord injuries, but also those living with other neurological disorders—such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, and arthritis—that similarly involve blockage or damage to neural pathways.

From Students to Scientists

The partnership between Sargent and the Roy Foundation officially kicked off in March 2016 with a one-day conference titled State of the Science in Spinal Cord Injury Research at the VA: Focus on Rehabilitation. The event brought scientists from the Boston area and beyond to Sargent to learn about and discuss the latest developments in SCI research. The highlight was a keynote speech by Audrey Kusiak, scientific program manager for regenerative medicine, spinal cord injury, and neuropathic pain programs at the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Such gatherings not only boost Sargent’s profile but will also be a boon to SCI research in the long run, says Hutchinson—in part because of the presence of Roy himself, whose lectures and appearances will draw students, educate them on spinal cord injuries, and inspire them to consider a career in that field.

“The professorship is how we’re going to grow the science, and Travis being on campus will help mobilize and cultivate students to be the scientists who will do the work in these important areas,” Hutchinson says.

“My hope is that we can have a big impact in all aspects of educating students at Sargent, on spinal cord injuries in both PT and OT,” says Roy, who received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from BU in May 2016. “We can benefit from the knowledge gained [through research] at Sargent, and the school can benefit from the grants we provide. I think there’s certainly synergy there, and it’s going to be exciting to see the opportunities in the years to come.”

Read more articles from Inside Sargent, 2016–2017