Injured Norwood player returns home

NORWOOD – Matt Brown, the Norwood High School hockey player who suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury during a game this winter, returned home Wednesday after a long stint undergoing rehabilitation in an Atlanta hospital.

"It feels awesome," he told reporters after his stretcher was taken off the small plane.

In his time away from home, the Norwood community has rallied in support of the family. According to WBZ-TV, Brown's home has been fitted with an elevator, and his bedroom has been moved to the main floor of the house.

In addition, there have been fund-raisers, raffles, support from Boston hockey celebrities and thousands of messages of encouragement.

“Every hockey program across the state has sent a card, a picture, words of encouragement, done a 50/50 raffle,” his father, Michael Brown, told hockeyjournal.com in the weeks after the injury. “It’s just a special fraternity that all of them feel for us and feel for Matt. I can’t tell you how many messages of encouragement I’ve read that begin with, ‘I’m the father of two hockey players,’ or, ‘I’m a hockey mom with three sons who skate,’ or, ‘I have a daughter who skates.’”

Following the Jan. 23 injury, Brown was rushed to Children’s Hospital in Boston, and put in intensive care with no feeling in his legs. He had broken two vertebrae, and was left paralyzed.

Fourteen weeks later, his intensive rehab will continue, but at least he’s now in familiar surroundings.

"Matt always worked hard on the ice to get to where he got," Norwood coach Bill Clifford told WBZ-TV. "He's a hard worker and I'll know he'll continue to work hard through rehabilitation."