SAN ANTONIO — Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith was named the 2020 NFL Comeback Player of the Year on Saturday, following a remarkable recovery from what was initially believed to be a career-ending injury.
A large part of his rehabilitation success was due to the team at Brooke Army Medical Center’s Center for the Intrepid. There, a local soldier was also undergoing therapy for an identical injury—and the two ended up forming a lasting friendship.
A third-quarter play against the Houston Texans in 2018 resulted in Smith’s compound fracture; he broke the tibia and fibula in his right leg, and later developed a flesh-eating bacteria that not only threatened his life, but also led to doctors considering amputating his leg. In a CBS 60 Minutes interview, he shared how doctors removed muscle and tissue from his lower leg in order to control the infection.
“Just wondering like, I mean, would I ever be able to go on walks with my wife? Would I ever be able to play with my kids? Crazy reality. So yeah, really thankful to be here,” said Smith as his eyes watered up.
Smith received special clearance from the Pentagon to get therapy at the Brooke Army Medical Center’s Center for the Intrepid (CFI) in San Antonio. It’s a state-of-the-art facility that provides rehabilitation to patients who have suffered amputations, burns or other functional limb loss during military service.
The quarterback ended up meeting a local soldier who was enduring the same uphill battle to recovery. Chris White served 12 years as an airborne infantryman, and experienced an identical injury to his right leg during 2011.
“An airborne infantryman—the not-so-intelligent intelligent people that like to fall out of an airplane for some odd reason,” quipped White. “We’re the tip of the spear. We are the invading force. Our exact job description is to fight the enemy, fact to face."
The high-risk role in the U.S. Army led to a life-altering crash. White cannot share the details of the incident, but he said he broke his tibia in one place and his fibula in two places. He explained how he had nearly the same recovery process as Smith.
“They had to re-break my leg in three places. I had the external fixator on for 13 months,” recalled White. “They made constant adjustments for the entire 13 months, which essentially, if you know the process, you’re breaking your own leg every single day.”
White said he was missing two full inches of bone in his right leg. Doctors had to remove the bone out of each of his hips in attempt to mend his leg, but the process didn’t work.
They ended up having to install a titanium rod and multiple screws to hold his leg together. This is when his exit to the military began, as there was no certainty that White’s right leg would ever be fully healed again.
For several weeks, White spent time with Smith at CFI. While the world knew the football player as the 2005 No. 1 draft pick and three-time pro bowler, White got to know him outside of the titles.
He now considers Smith one of his best friends.
“He really likes his breakfast burritos. We would go every single morning, a little taco stand off the back gate over here and get a couple of breakfast burritos and talk for a little while and get to know each other,” White said. “He’s probably the most humble human being you’ll ever meet.”
Ultimately, after 17 surgeries and months of rehabilitation, Smith made a remarkable recovery. In October, he returned to the gridiron and led the Washington Football Team to its first playoff appearance in five years.
“San Antonio, BAMC, the military, all of the doctors and everybody here—this is what makes stories like this possible,” White said. “Knowing what he's been through, and to see that he got back to an elite level of play, that gives me that much more drive.”
White shared that he’s hoping for his own comeback story; he wants to return to the U.S. Army and make it into Special Forces. He has been fitted with what’s called an Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis (IDEO) brace that was developed at CFI. The brace allows him to run and conduct any high-impact activity.
“I live, eat and breathe getting back into the military. It may sound stupid to some people who are the military like, 'Why would you put yourself through that? (At) an ancient age, almost 39,'” said White with a laugh. “For me, it's what I'm meant to do. I believe that, truly, everybody is put on this planet to do something, and I believe that is mine.”
Smith, who has credited CFI for his recovery, has started a clothing collection with a brand called Attitude is Free. All of the proceeds will go towards the center.