NFL Player Kevin Everett Suffers Spinal Injury
COLLINS: We are getting live pictures in on the sixth anniversary of September 11th. On the left-hand side of your screen you see the Pentagon. People are remembering what happened on this day at the Pentagon; 184 people died in that building. Also on little bit later on, in about 15 minutes or so, there will be a ceremony. You see people in their seats already. A moment of silence as well at 9:37. We will be hearing from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Pace, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. They will be laying a wreath during this ceremony to commemorate the anniversary. On the right side of your screen, you see the World Trade Center remembrances going on. You see people coming forward, and the list of names being read in the background. This is the first time now, as we've been reporting all morning, the ceremonies will not be held at the actual World Trade Center site. They are being held nearby in a park, due to the construction. You see the reflection pool there. It might actually be the last time the family members get to go to that reflection pool and remember their loved ones. Usually throwing flowers, sometimes pictures, sometimes notes, into that pool. This may be the last time that that is possible because of all of that construction. Massive, massive project that is going on there, to remember the victims. We will continue to bring you these live pictures throughout the day here in the NEWSROOM. Meanwhile, another story we're following this morning, a helmet- to-helmet commission. An NFL player possibly paralyzed. Our Chief Medical Correspondent Doctor Sanjay Gupta is here now with more now on this. What is the latest on Kevin Everett?</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know he is sill sedated. We know that he is in the intensive care unit, and he is on a breathing machine. We got a lot more details from his doctors as far as what they saw immediately -- everyone has probably seen the images now of him on the field yesterday and getting hit in such a way that it looked like his neck was probably snapped back at the time. You can see that hit there. He slumps over and falls immediately down. We know that at that time, he actually broke a bone in his neck between his 3rd and 4th bones in the cervical spine. Had he no movement. He did have pressure sensation according to his doctors that took care of him, but as soon as he got to the hospital -- he got there within 15 minutes by the way -- and they performed scans and they figured out that he had actually broken this bone. I want on to show you really quick, if I can, Heidi, on this model here. This is a model of the spine. And over here, between the 3rd and 4th bones there is disk material there. And that was actually pushed backwards into his spinal canal, so doctors removed that and fused a couple of bones here together right here, if you can see that. And they also, from the other side, from the back side actually removed some of the bone that was also pinching on his spinal cord, and created another fusion there. That was all to take the pressure off the spinal cord. It is unlikely that they say he will walk again. He may get some movement back, he may get some sensation back, but unlikely given the nature of that spinal cord injury that he will be able to walk again.</s>COLLINS: So we are talking about possible paraplegia or quadriplegia?</s>GUPTA: Given how high this was in the spine, again, between the third and fourth bones we are talking about quadriplegia here. You remember Utley, of the Detroit Lions, he had a similar sort of injury, but he was able to give a thumbs up sign. And that meant that he had some activation of this biceps, and some activation of his hand. It was a lower down injury, which is why he was able to do that. In this case, the injury is so high that it controls so much of his function in both of his arms and legs that it is unlikely he will be able to either move both his arms or his legs.</s>COLLINS: You just hate to see it on the field like that. Just awful. I'm sure he is going to face some complications, too.</s>GUPTA: The operation is over and, obviously, there's this tragic sort of what looks like a tragic outcome but there is still concerns. When people are paraplegic or quadriplegic they can suffer from blood clots in their legs. Those can sometimes slip off and go into their lungs. They can suffer from pneumonia. As I mentioned, he's still on the breathing machine. So infection is still a big risk as well. He is still considered critically injured as a result of this injury, so doctors will take care of his blood pressure and heart rate the next several days. He is being given certain medications to try to reduce the swelling of the spinal cord. The goal is get as much outcome, as much improvement as possible, but all of those medications and everything have their own risks.</s>COLLINS: Definitely. Any way of monitoring how hard these guys get hit? It's professional football. They're big guys, they're taught to hit as hard as they can. They have a goal in mind here, to get the guy down on the ground.</s>GUPTA: Right, and move the ball down the field. They wear all of this gear, including the helmets and the pads and everything. It's interesting. There's a new technology out there, actually, within the helmet itself, putting these sensors in. Think of it like air bags within the helmet, in terms of the sensors, giving a moment-to-moment information back to the sidelines, and how powerful a hit was taken by that helmet. And trainers, or doctors on the sideline can decide what to do with that information if someone took a hard hit, or they a sequence of moderately hard hits what to do with that information. It's out there right now. A few Big Ten football teams using it, Virginia Tech is one of them, and University of Illinois.</s>COLLINS: You mean, what to do with that information? By way of different training? Different technology?</s>GUPTA: Or take the person off the field. Say, you know, what, that hit was too hard. If you take another one that could be devastating, or if you have taken a few in a row, it's time to come off the field for a while. I think that is part of the decision making process. And they're also thinking about making it more available to the lay public so a person, for example, could get that information transmitted to their home computer, and follow along and see how their child -- what is happening to their brain, and to their head in a middle of a game.</s>COLLINS: Wow. That's amazing.</s>GUPTA: It's amazing.</s>COLLINS: You never have it seems like too much technology in an area like this to keep people safe and playing the game that they love.</s>GUPTA: And making sure they know how to use it. We will keep you posted on Kevin Everett, as well.</s>COLLINS: All right, Sanjay, thanks so much. Thanks so much.</s>GUPTA: Thank you.</s>COLLINS: Honoring the loss, remembering the heroes six years after the 9/11 attacks, the Pentagon pays tribute. Live pictures there.</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ali Velshi, "Minding Your Business" in New York. Oil prices are up so you can expect your gas prices to follow. And the Fed says don't bank on interest rate cut. I'll tell you more about it when I come back in the NEWSROOM.