PHILADELPHIA -- He was brought back to Philadelphia to replace the aging Dikembe Mutombo. They praised his soft hands, his ability to catch the ball around the basket and convert a convenient two. They talked about his quick feet, his agility in the low post.

	MacCulloch

In the past three months, however, those hands and those feet have betrayed him. And Todd MacCulloch, the gentle giant from western Canada who just turned 27 years old, now sits helplessly on the bench, watching his teammates and wondering if he will ever get back on an NBA court.

In a lengthy interview with ESPN, MacCulloch's doctor, Dr. Terry Heiman-Patterson, a well-known specialist on CMT at Drexel University's College of Medicine in Philadelphia, cast serious doubts on whether MacCulloch will ever play in an NBA uniform again.

"I think Todd has a problem that may preclude him from being able to play again," said Heiman-Patterson, the director of the neuromuscular division of the Drexel's Department of Neurology, which has been treating MacCulloch for about two months. "I do think it's a major issue for Todd and he may never play again."

MacCulloch has been diagnosed with a rare genetic neurological disorder called Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), a disease discovered in the 1880's and has no known cure. CMT is not life threatening, but the tingling and numbness it has created in MacCulloch's feet and hands have robbed him of his ability to do any number of routine activities with any kind of confidence.

"The hardest thing is not practicing with the team, and not playing in the games," said MacCulloch, who has not played since Feb. 2, when was on the court for just four minutes.

CMT is a hereditary disorder and Heiman-Patterson has concluded that MacCulloch got it from his mother, Lois, who also has the disease. Lois MacCulloch had many of the same symptoms, but she didn't know she had the disease until the 76ers organization flew her to Philadelphia last week to be examined, Heiman-Patterson said.

CMT is characterized by a slowly progressive degeneration of the muscles in the foot, lower leg, hand and forearm and a mild loss of sensation in the limbs, fingers and toes. There is no specific treatment for CMT, according to specialists.

"It tends to get progressively worse over time," said MacCulloch, "but the nice thing is that it's supposed to happen very slowly. For some reason, in my case, it's happened in a relatively quick time."

That's what so problematic about MacCulloch's case. He could get better as quickly as the disease took hold, or the opposite could happen, further degenerating his ability to do normal things -- but especially abnormal things such as battling Shaq or Yao in the low post.

"It's just changing the way that my feet and my hands feel," he said. "The way they respond, they sort of send me messages that I'm not supposed to be feeling. I feel tingling sensations in my feet. Numbness. Sometimes, I don't know exactly where I'm stepping. I end up kicking things a lot, end up tripping. Balance is suffering."

According to Heiman-Patterson, MacCulloch is suffering from other neurological problems, some of which may be a result of the weakening of the muscles caused by CMT. MacCulloch, she said, suffers from tarsal tunnel syndrome, which causes an intermittent burning sensation in MacCulloch's feet, and has suffered from plantar fascitis, an inflammation of the connective tissue or the tendons in his feet.

"Charcot-Marie-Tooth is a hereditary disease of the nerve, the peripheral nerve, and the peripheral nerve is that part of the nervous system that comes out of the spinal cord," she said. "It carries messages back to the spinal cord and brain and brings messages to move to muscles. And the problem when you have weak muscles, it can pre-dispose you to other injuries like Todd's, like his plantar fascitis and perhaps his tarsal tunnel.

"The sum total of all this is that you have a level of dysfunction, as in Todd's case at a certain point where Todd can't play as well and he's having difficulty handling the ball and running."

So, doctors have put MacCulluch on a stringent rehabilitation and physical therapy program, which includes light weight lifting to try to alleviate some of the symptoms from the associated neurological problems. No one is suggesting that this therapy will reverse the effects of CMT or cure the disease. But MacCulloch may get better use of his hands and feet to begin performing normal functions again - and maybe, just maybe, play basketball again.

"When your nerves start not working correctly, your muscles start to atrophy or die," he said. "So, they say that lifting weights and doing physical therapy is one of the best ways to combat that, and to try to strengthen the muscles that aren't effected to maybe compensate for the ones in trouble."

MacCulloch was asked whether retirement has crept into his thinking. "Well, I think it has only from watching television," he said. "I mean we haven't talked about it here. You know, myself or as a staff, but I guess you know, I guess some people CMT effects so seriously that they don't see how, how you could continue a career and I think everyone's different. And so my page hasn't been written yet."

MacCulloch, who is married but has no children, said that since he was diagnosed in January, he has received hundreds of e-mails from CMT victims. He said those e-mails have reduced his fear of the unknown and helped him comfort others.

"I don't want [my feet and hands] to feel like this for the rest of my life and maybe they will, but at least now there's things I can try," he said. "And there's e-mails I've gotten from people saying, 'Doctors have told me there's nothing they can do, but I've tried this and this has worked.' So, I've got about 10 to 15 things to try, if the conventional things don't work out."

He said he's gotten e-mails from kids that have told him they had CMT for a long time and didn't know anyone else who had it. Only about 115,000 Americans suffer from CMT.

"They felt like they were the only ones who had it," MacCulloch said. "And I think they feel alone. And now I don't feel alone because now, I've already got all these letters from people that have it. And I guess people watching ESPN, more people will maybe feel a little bit a part of it. Or maybe it will bring some attention to the disease."

Sal Paolantonio is an ESPN correspondent based in Philadelphia