Fourth & Long: The Kent Waldrep Story

by Susan Mary Malone, Kent Waldrep

Playing in a football game between Texas Christian and Alabama in 1975, Waldrep sustained a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed. He began extensive therapy, but the American medical profession agreed that nothing could be done for him, their gospel being that any paralysis that lasts for three to six months after spinal cord injury is permanent. But after learning that the Soviet medical profession did not agree, Waldrep spent a month in the former Leningrad, making some progress. Back in the U.S., he established a foundation to raise funds for research on spinal cord injuries. That foundation was merged with a larger group, and subsequently Waldrep was all but ousted from it; he established a second foundation and has seen the development of fruitful nerve-regeneration research, nerve grafting and the use of steroids (this last pioneered by the Russians), all of which have combined to change the view of the AMA. He and freelance journalist Malone grippingly depict not only the patient's but also his loved ones' ordeals in adjusting to paralysis. 40,000 first printing.

207 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1996

About the author

Texas native Susan Mary Malone has published two novels, co-authored four nonfiction books, and written many short stories. Her happiness is fiction, wine, and Labrador Retrievers, the latter of which she raises, trains, and shows. Literature is her love. In addition to writing, she edits; fifty-plus Malone-edited books have sold to traditional publishers, and one of them was made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame film (while another is in production, set to be released in 2015). Her stories revolve around the passions and purpose, the myths and meaning of women’s lives. Which often involves wine. She does, however, try to keep the Labradors out of that.