Paralyzed A's minor leaguer Ryan Lasko leaves hospital more than two months after spinal-cord injury

WEST ORANGE, N.J. (AP) — Ryan Lasko, a minor league prospect with the Athletics who was paralyzed in an outfield collision more than two months ago, has been released from an in-patient rehabilitation hospital and will continue his recovery from home.

The 24-year-old Lasko was released Wednesday exactly two months after arriving at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in his home state of New Jersey, about 35 miles from where he attended college at Rutgers and became a second-round draft pick by the A's in 2023. Staff members at the facility celebrated his departure with a “clap out” farewell ceremony as he exited the building's main entrance.

Lasko suffered the spinal cord injury in a collision with a teammate June 30 that left him paralyzed from the chest down, with both arms affected, too. His dominant right arm — the one he uses to throw and hit — is weaker and will take more time to strengthen. His legs and feet have begun to regain some feeling and tingling sensations.

He told The Associated Press this week he can't predict how the next year will go. For now, he is focusing on the present and “reworking my brain to just wait, there's nothing else I can do now, I have to wait.”

Going home is a major milestone. He said he's excited for a home-cooked meal and to follow through on offseason travel plans with girlfriend Alli Graff despite the additional challenges.

“I've kind of stopped trying to look that far ahead because they keep telling me it's two months, this is only the beginning still, but it feels like it's been forever,” Lasko told the AP. “It's gone by quick, but it's also been the longest two months of my life. They keep telling me that it's only the beginning so that's where I'm trying to learn to have patience, because I expected it would happen overnight and that's really not how it works whatsoever. But I'm learning, slowly, it's a very slow process with everything.”

Lasko fractured the C6 and C7 vertebrae in his neck during a frightening moment as he and Double-A Midland teammate Devin Taylor ran into each other in a game at Frisco, Texas, both attempting to make a play on a ball to the gap.

Lasko was carted off the field and taken to a nearby hospital for immediate spinal decompression and stabilization surgery.

His doctors and physical and occupational therapists are encouraged by his progress and optimistic he could make a full recovery and walk again in time.

“It’s been a long road,” Lasko’s mother, Patti, said while moving some of his belongings into her car with Graff outside the facility. She was in the stands for the game when he was hurt.

“The two of them work as a team. I feel like it’s a new beginning.”

He will initially return to his hometown of Jackson, New Jersey, and then live in a hotel near the Kessler facility for approximately two months as he continues to make strides.

Lasko counts each of the “big wins” along the way, like being able just to go outside again.

“I don't know what the next step is, so that's kind of scary. There's a lot more unknown,” he said. “The first day I got here they asked me what my goal was and I said to be as independent as possible. I've gotten to that point, I've checked a lot of boxes. Everything that I said I couldn't do, I can do now — simple stuff like opening my water bottle that you take for granted. ... There's a lot of small things that I took for granted that I couldn't do that I can do somewhat now again.”

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