“Not a lot is known about it for spinal cord injury,” said Steinberg at Stanford, where it mostly is done in some stroke and head injury cases under an experimental protocol.

Other aspects of Everett’s care are more routine.

He received large intravenous doses of methylprednisolone, a steroid to limit inflammation and swelling, and had decompression surgery to relieve pressure on his spinal cord.

Doctors initially operated from the front of his neck, removing the injured disk and bone impinging on the spinal cord, and realigned it. They filled the space where the disk had been with a bone graft — whether from a cadaver or his hip isn’t known — and put in a titanium plate to stabilize the neck area.

Surgeons then turned him over and operated from the back of his neck, fusing the vertebrae above and below the fracture, and putting in four screws and two small rods.

Long-term results from such operations can vary widely, said Maroon, the Steelers’ surgeon who published a paper in the April issue of Journal of Neurosurgery on this topic. He has operated on about 30 athletes.

On Wednesday, Everett was successfully removed from the respirator though doctors say it could be a struggle to keep him breathing on his own. A stroke and blood clots in his legs are other possible complications they are trying to prevent.

He showed more ability to move his legs and a little more in his arms, but has no movement or function at all of his hands. He is getting nourishment from a feeding tube, and his mother is at his side.

“She understands that this is a life-changing event,” and that “the story will change over months to years,” said Dr. Kevin Gibbons, another University of Buffalo neurosurgeon who has been treating Everett.

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