(CNN)

Estefan escaped from a near-fatal bus accident in 1990 with a broken back. After months of grueling physical therapy and surgery, she returned to the stage and studio, winning Grammy Awards and numerous other accolades.

Buoniconti wasn't so lucky. In 1985, he was hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father, NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti, when his life was changed.

The school’s sixth-, seventh- and eighthgraders and their teachers are so concerned about the severity of the injury Everett suffered in the Bills season opener against the Denver Broncos that they’ve been raising money to donate for spinal cord research in Everett’s honor.

State's brain, spinal patients can't find rehab

Spinal cord and brain injury patients routinely are staying at hospitals for weeks after they are ready to go to rehabilitation, causing trauma centers to run at capacity and ring up costly bills.

Trauma patients are surviving in cases when they might not have a few years ago, and there is a shortage of rehabilitation centers to treat them. The situation ends up affecting everyone who needs medical care.

I try to follow guidelines set up by the medical community so when I turned 40, it was time for a mammogram. The only time I saw a mammogram machine was on television during “October is Breast Awareness Month”—a barrage of commercials and news flashes from the health expert during the six o’clock news. The only problem with the examination I saw was that every woman was standing. Now the ability to stand has not been in my repertoire since I broke my neck and damaged my spinal cord over 20 years ago. So I assumed that having a mammogram would be out of the question.

Breast cancer is predominant on Long Island. A little park there is adorned with a pink ribbon and a sign that says, “One of Nine.” I’m not very good at math but statistically speaking I could actually be the one in nine. The question is how would I know?

"These grants are extremely competitive, and this award underscores the high caliber of neuroscience research being conducted at Wright State," said David R. Hopkins, president of Wright State. "In this research arena we are successfully competing at a national level. We are extremely proud that Wright State has taken a leadership role by bringing this Program Project Grant to the region."

An experimental treatment – inducing hypothermia – has been helping a professional football player make a remarkable recovery from a paralyzing injury. Cooling therapy, also being used in Triangle hospitals, has made the recovery possible.

Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett sustained a severe spinal cord injury in the season opener against Denver on Sept. 9. The third and fourth vertebrae in his neck were fractured, leaving him paralyzed.

"Not only do you wonder if they're ever going to walk again, you wonder if they'll actually going to be able to survive the injury," said Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein, with the New York University Hospital for Joint Disease.