Dr. Frank Eismont of the Jackson Memorial Hospital displays a model of the spine and talks about the injury to Derrick Thomas.

Thomas underwent 4½ hours of surgery Tuesday to stabilize his spine, and doctors said his spinal cord was not damaged as badly as feared.

Thomas' spinal cord was severely bruised, neurosurgeon Barth Green said from Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

Doctors originally thought it might have been severed when Thomas was thrown from his car Sunday after losing control on an icy highway near Kansas City, Mo. Thomas broke his spine and neck and wound up semiconscious with no feeling in his legs.

"It's a very serious injury, a bad one," Green said. "He may have some feeling in his feet, and he has some weakness in his hands."

Though the NFL star remained paralyzed from the chest down, doctors expressed hope he'd walk again.

"There have been cases of people with similar injuries who have recovered and there have been people who haven't recovered," Green said. "Anybody who knows Derrick knows that you don't bet against him. But it's too early to tell right now. We just have to see how he does."

Thomas' operation included decompressing the spinal cord, stabilizing the spinal column with screws, titanium rods and hooks, and implanting bone grafts from Thomas' hip.

Thomas was in serious condition after the operation that ended early Tuesday, hospital spokeswoman Regina Ponder said.

Doctors said surgery went as planned and that Thomas, who remained sedated Tuesday afternoon, could be transferred to a rehabilitation facility in about two weeks. He already has begun working with therapists.

Thomas had no movement or motor function below the chest before the operation and will have to wait an undetermined period of time for a prognosis with regard to his ability to walk.

We know his bone injury was a T5 (vertebrae) but we don't know about the neurological," Dr. Green said. "There have been cases like his where they have recovered and some that have not recovered.

Thomas also had several fractures of the cervical spine, or the part in the area of the neck. Those breaks caused the weakness in his hands.

"You have to remember, he's just come out of a bad car accident, so we are doing the best to protect his other injuries," Green said. "His body is adjusting. ... He has no fat. He's a lean, mean machine and that's had a lot to do with how well he's done."

	“	All of the support he's getting from around the nation, it's very important to him. ”
		— Edith Morgan, Thomas' mother

Thomas, one of the most popular athletes in Kansas City, was flown from Liberty (Mo.) Memorial Hospital to Miami, his hometown and his mother's home.

Waiting for him in Miami were teammate James Hasty, who flew in from Washington state, plus old friends Cortez Kennedy of the Seattle Seahawks and Russell Maryland of the Oakland Raiders.

"All of the support he's getting from around the nation, it's very important to him," Thomas' mother said. "I'm trying to hold up and I've gotten a lot of support. I want to thank each and every one who showed their love and showed their support."

"Derrick is in very good spirits, he's got his usual sense of humor and he's taking all of this one day at a time," Morgan said. "One of the first things he said to me was, 'Mom, I'm going to have to have a lot of rehab.' But he's real positive and real optimistic about everything.

"We know that we have a long road ahead of us, but we're going to get through this."

The hospital is the home of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, the world's largest spinal cord injury research center, and its surgeons have operated on several famous athletes, including race car driver Emerson Fittipaldi.

Michael Tellis, one of two passengers in Thomas' car, was killed as they were en route to Kansas City International Airport for a trip to the NFC Championship game in St. Louis. Thomas' car rolled several times.

Thomas and Tellis, 49, of Kansas City, Kan., were not wearing seat belts and were thrown from the car, police said. Tellis was killed instantly. A third man in the car, John Hagebusch, 34, who was wearing a seat belt, was treated and released.

Thomas, a nine-time Pro Bowl player and one of the game's most feared pass rushers, holds the NFL one-game record of seven sacks and ranks ninth on the career list. His seven sacks against Seattle in 1990 came near Veterans Day. He dedicated his effort to his father, an Air Force pilot killed in Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II.

"Derrick has a chore ahead of him, but knowing Derrick he will get it done," Chiefs president Carl Peterson said. "But it's going to take some time."

"He's scared, like anybody would be. He's never gone through anything like this."