Gerry Bertier from Remember the Titans- Neuro Note #2

     Hello my name is Joe Harbor and this is my second assignment for my Neuro Aspects course in the occupational therapy program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. For this assignment I wanted to look at a different topic from the course since I discussed stroke in my previous blog. I settled on spinal cord injury as my topic. The topic of spinal cord injury lead me to think on if I knew anyone in my life or from sports, I am a big sports guy, who has suffered such an injury.  When I stopped to think if I had my favorite movie came to mind. I love the movie Remember the Titans and (Spoiler alert ahead) one of the main characters has a car crash and suffers a spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the waist down.  
     If you have never seen the movie Remember the Titans I would recommend it to anyone at all ages. It is a Disney movie so it is available on Disney+.  I in fact rewatched it, for what probably is the 1000th time in my life, to prepare this assignment.  The movie is based on a true story about a high school football team in Virginia during the years when schools in America were first starting to be integrated. The movie does a good job of showing the struggles and racial tensions that existed within the environment. The film directors do a good job of showing how a common goal such as winning football games can grow life long bonds between people they thought were their enemies. I think everyone could learn something from the way the players and coaches handled the situation especially considering the current racial and political conversations we find ourselves in. 
     Gerry Bertier was the starting LEFT SIDE linebacker for the team. He was a high school All-American and one of the star players. Gerry was also one of the key leaders on the team who helped bridge the gap between the white and black players. In the movie Gerry goes out to celebrate a big win and is hit by a truck. The team shortly finds out that their best player and more importantly friend will probably never walk again. Gerry had suffered a spinal cord injury somewhere in the lumbar region. Gerry would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. The movies tells that Gerry eventual becomes a paralympian competing and winning a gold medal in shot put. This movie helps show that just because someone suffers a devastating injury it does not mean they can not recover, and furthermore if  the individual has determination and drive they can excell again in whatever life activities that are important to them. 


Reference:

Remember the Titans. (2000, September 29). Retrieved July 17, 2020, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210945/