BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) -Former New York Giants linebacker Corey Widmer was recovering from serious injuries after paragliding accident in the Chilean Andes.
The 38-year-old Widmer said he severely fractured a vertebrae, which required the removal of two ribs to stabilize his back. Doctors said the injury didn’t cause any paralysis.
“We are still not out of the woods yet,” Widmer told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle by phone from a hospital in Iquique, Chile, on Friday. “We are still kind of taking it a day at a time.”
Widmer, who played eight seasons with the Giants, was injured a week ago on the first day of the paragliding trip. He said he crashed shortly after takeoff when he tipped a wing “and it shot me into the side of the mountain.”
“I had a bunch of paragliding pilots with me,” he said. “I didn’t know it was broke at first and I was able to get down part of the mountain.”
Widmer was drafted in 1992 out of Montana State in the seventh round. He was released after the 1999 season following a back injury.
Widmer said he hoped to be able to fly back to the United States in time for the holidays.
“The future right now is up in the air and to tell you the truth, I am pretty scared,” he said.
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