From paralyzed to running the Philadelphia Marathon

Tracey Romero, Philly.com's sports medicine editor, wrote this for the "Sports Doc" blog.

After a traumatic spinal cord injury like the one William "Zev" Rosenberg suffered, most people might consider just walking again a major feat, let alone running in this Sunday's Philadelphia Marathon.

But Rosenberg, now 52, of Edison, N.J., was determined to regain his racing legs.

He has always drawn inspiration from the people of his synagogue, Congregation Ahavas Yisrael. It was their love and support, as well as that of his family and friends, he said, that gave him the strength to endure the painful road back from a 2013 accident, when he was just days away from competing in the New Jersey Marathon.

As a mechanical contractor and owner of Raritan Air Water Power Service, Rosenberg was working in a customer's home when he hit his head on a low overhang. The blow crushed several vertebrae.

"I felt the feeling flow out of my body, and then I fell down the stairs," he said.

Often, no one was in the homes where he worked. This time, he was lucky. The owner called an ambulance.

Paralyzed from the neck down, Rosenberg underwent a procedure to fuse some vertebrae. After a week in the hospital, he was sent to the Kessler Institute in West Orange, N.J., for rehabilitation.

The first night at Kessler was scary because the next day, "I would see my limitations, what I actually would be able to do."

Rosenberg's doctors had hoped he would regain most if not all of his abilities, but there was still a lot of uncertainty.

Rosenberg was very weak in his upper body. One arm was paralyzed; the other didn't have enough strength even to plug in his phone charger.

"At Kessler, they teach you first how to stand up and then how to walk. I had to learn how to walk again, and I didn't have enough arm strength to hold on to the walker."

He forced himself to focus. "I pushed myself so that I could see more improvements, and I did. I kept telling myself that if I can stand, then I can walk, and then maybe even run again."

Having run the Philadelphia Marathon two years before his accident, Rosenberg was determined to participate in 2013. He finished the half-marathon - walking most of it.

He felt so great afterward he knew he was ready for more.

This Sunday, he'll be in Philadelphia, ready to run the full marathon with his middle daughter, Ziesel. "She told me that if I can do it, then she can, too."

He has come far in his recovery. But he still will run the race with disabilities in all four limbs.

He still suffers from neuropathy, a constant numbness and tingling and reduced sensation that affects his balance. "I really have to focus when running or walking or I will fall down," he said.

When Rosenberg crosses the finish line, he plans to raise his arms in the universal sign of victory - not only because the race itself is a victory, but because that simple act is so hard for him. "I haven't been able to do that yet," he said.