Football Player Suffered Severe Spinal Injury

DeWayne Lyons, a Chatsworth High football player who was injured in a City Section playoff game Friday night, remains in serious condition at Northridge Hospital Medical Center. His mother, Sheila Thomas, said he has a fractured vertebra and is partially paralyzed.

“The doctors told me that the fifth cervical vertebrae is broken,” Thomas said. “Right now, DeWayne is paralyzed from the waist down.”

Thomas said doctors had not told her if the paralysis was permanent. Lyons, 16, has shown improvement, however.

“I’ve started to get some feeling back in parts of my legs,” Lyons said. “I can feel pin pricks in certain parts of my legs.”

Lyons, a 5-8, 152-pound defensive back, was injured in the second quarter of Chatsworth’s 16-8 victory over Fairfax in the opening round of the 3-A Division playoffs.