The Shepherd Center, which treats spinal cord and brain injuries, has promised to provide a range of testing, care and rehabilitation services. It's part of a philanthropic effort driven by Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot Inc.

“If what happened to Stephen, if some good came out of it, it would be amazing,” said Nyquist, 28, alluding to the possibility that medical and disability insurance, and other benefits, may be provided the way they are in other professional sports leagues.

"Paralyzed Veterans strives to ensure that no American, especially those who risked their lives to protect the freedoms we take for granted every day, is denied access to employment, education, cultural activities or community life because of disability," stated Mark C. Dowis, Associate Executive Director of Marketing and Development, Paralyzed Veterans. "We are extremely pleased that Reality Racing has taken up our cause and made it their own."

Many were paraplegics or quadriplegics. They were bundled in coats and blankets. Some had to be pushed, while others had just enough arm strength to manipulate the controls on their motorized wheelchairs.

Zabrian Goodrich, 35, paralyzed in an auto accident, said he has been at Oak Forest for two years. Ralph Scroggins, 48, has been there seven years since suffering a spinal cord injury that he says resulted from surgery at Stroger Hospital. Glenn Wise, 46, has been an Oak Forest patient for 18 years, since he was shot in the head by a Chicago Police officer after he pulled a stickup with a toy gun.

It was about 1 p.m., and his convoy had paused at a checkpoint near Baqubah, Iraq, northeast of Baghdad, after a report that a man may have planted a bomb. Just the week before, in the same area, an improvised explosive device detonated under his vehicle, damaging the windows.

The team was on alert, but Cannon noticed nothing suspicious.

"I don't remember hearing the first shot," he says, "but I remember feeling short of breath."

New technologies and more aggressive approaches to treating spinal cord injuries pioneered in Detroit are giving patients new independence and improved mobility.

But the innovations come at a big price at the very time insurers are trying to hold down rising health costs. While some advocates see progress in getting insurance to cover the treatment, patients are finding that insurers are willing to pay only so much for only so long.

Bob Smith of Harrison Township, injured in a diving accident on July 4, 1999, learned in December that Health Alliance Plan no longer would pay for his therapy at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan in Detroit, as it had for 2 1/2 years.

Mobility equipment manufacturers and dealers are joining with power wheelchair users and doctors to call on Congress to prevent a major access problem for Medicare beneficiaries.