How a rare infection threatened DaVon Hamilton's N...

playHamilton shares story of spinal abscess (1:15)Michael DiRocco details the story behind DaVon Hamilton's spinal abscess that sidelined him in 2023. (1:15) JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- DaVon Hamilton couldn't sleep. The debilitating pain pulsing through his back propelled the Jacksonville Jaguars' training staff to haul in a pool lounge chair into his hotel room in Detroit on Aug. 17, 2023. He needed the almost 7-foot chair because he couldn't lie flat. The Jaguars had just finished two joint practices with the Lions, one of which Hamilton sat out. The pain didn't subside, and when it came time for the preseason game against the Lions to end the week, it took Hamilton almost 90 minutes to pack his suitcase. Then, trainers had to assist him onto the team bus. Hamilton couldn't play, spending the preseason game in pain in the locker room. He had been getting treatment for similar symptoms since before training camp began, but this was much, much worse. It wasn't until later that night, when his legs went numb and he couldn't stand on his own to get off the team plane that the 6-foot-4, 335-pound professional athlete who makes a living colliding with men just as big, or bigger, got scared. "I need help to walk, period," Hamilton told ESPN. "I had two or three people helping me. So, I'm just getting held up by a couple trainers and [the Jaguars' medical staff] is like, 'We need to get you to the hospital now.'" Had that decision been delayed much longer, or had one of the top neurosurgeons in the Southeast not fortuitously been on site for a rarely scheduled Sunday morning surgery, Hamilton could have been paralyzed by a growing infection -- or worse. "I've never been more -- I don't want to use the word scared," said Jaguars team physician Kevin Kaplan, who later presented Hamilton's case because of its rarity to assembled medical staff at the 2026 NFL combine. "The way it unfolded, it was a scary situation." Nearly three years later, the Jaguars' starting nose tackle is coming off arguably his best season since being drafted out of Ohio State in 2020 -- and is now ready to share his experience in hopes of helping others in similar situations. "I had a lot of time to reflect," Hamilton said. "A lot of time really spent with God ... understanding God has a plan for me and that this is no random event, but something that ... I can learn from, inspire others with." DaVon Hamilton was selected by the Jaguars in the third round of the 2020 NFL draft. He is their starting nose tackle. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn ImagesAFTER LOSING THE ability to walk on his own, Hamilton was taken to Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville. Kaplan ordered multiple tests, one of which was an MRI. He then phoned Bradley Wallace, the hospital's chief of neurosurgery and one of the NFL's unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants who are on the sideline at every game to provide concussion evaluations. While Kaplan was explaining Hamilton's situation, Wallace was startled by the MRI results: a spinal epidural abscess with severe spinal cord compression. In layman's terms: an infection in the spinal canal. As the infection increases and pus fills the canal, it puts pressure on the spinal cord, which causes pain, weakness, numbness and -- if not caught in time and treated -- potential permanent paralysis. Per the National Institute of Health, the condition is rarely seen in young, healthy people and is more common in older patients and those who have risk factors or comorbidities. According to an NIH review of 12 studies involving 1,099 patients, intravenous drug use is the leading risk factor, and diabetes is the leading comorbidity -- neither of which applied to Hamilton. The NIH cited further studies that early diagnosis is crucial, and a delay in diagnosis and treatment can increase residual weakness or permanent neurologic deficit. It has a morbidity rate of approximately 5% of patients, per the NIH, because of sepsis or other issues. Wallace, who said he is rarely at the hospital for a 6:30 a.m. Sunday surgery, postponed a previously scheduled surgery and rushed Hamilton into the operating room instead. "This is a professional athlete. He cannot lift his legs off the bed," Wallace said. "He was almost paralyzed at this point. "This was a minutes-can-make-a-difference kind of thing." WALLACE PERFORMED A minimally invasive surgery, making half-inch incisions at the bottom, middle and top of the area of the abscess to drain the infection, instead of opening Hamilton's entire back so Hamilton could have a chance to resume his NFL career, provided there was no residual impact from the infection. Two days later, Hamilton was up and walking around the ICU. He showed no signs of lingering paralysis. He spent a week in the hospital and underwent an eight-week course of antibiotics, which he received through a PICC line -- a long, thin tube that is threaded into a vein near the heart. The team placed him on injured reserve Aug. 31, and

How a rare infection threatened DaVon Hamilton's N...

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