Heart of a hero: Student, told he'd never walk, runs through "T"

When Bobby and Monica Trail found out they were expecting their first child, a son, they were elated.

"Immediately, I thought, 'My son one day will be a Volunteer fan, too. Maybe even a Volunteer.' That was what I was hoping." says Bobby.

NICK'S BIRTH

But from the start, there were problems. Nick was born two months premature.

"His mother had toxemia and was real sick," recalls Bobby. "We rushed Nick and Monica to the hospital and Nick was born."

Doctors didn't give the Trails a lot of hope. First, Nick only weighed 2 pounds and 1/4 of an ounce. Second, there were the complications of being born premature.

Nick spent the first two months of his life in going between hospitals in both Murfreesboro and at Vanderbilt in Nashville.

Bobby and Monica would drive hours each week from their home in Manchester, just to spend a few precious moments with their son.

"Our only contact was through the nurses by phone," remembers Bobby. "We'd drive to Nashville to spend a couple of hours. We would scrub up like doctors and put on gowns to go in (and see him). And we really didn't have any contact with him. Just being there was important."

Nick rallied and was sent home. Still, the Trails knew something wasn't right.

"When Nick was a little over a year old, they sent us back to Vanderbilt for some check ups and stuff," remembers Bobby. "We knew he hadn't progressed. He never did crawl like a normal baby, he would craw combat style like a soldier on his arms and elbows. He never did try to get up and walk. Our pediatrician sent us to Vanderbilt, and it was there that the doctor came out and we heard the words Cerebral Palsy."

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke describes Cerebral Palsy as: Any one of a number of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination but don't worsen over time.

"We didn't know anything about Cerebral Palsy," says Bobby. "There wasn't the internet around then, so we couldn't research. We went to the library and got every book we could to try and read about it. The one thing that set in our minds forever was when the doctors said 'He may never walk. We won't know until he gets older what's going to happen.' To hear that we have a child that may never walk was kind of hard for us."

The Trails turned to Dr. Neal Greene at Vanderbilt, who was on the cutting edge of research for taking care of kids with Cerebral Palsy at the time.

"Nick went through a tremendous amount of surgery on his hamstrings, hips, his feet. He spent as much time in a cast in his childhood as he did out. That was hard on us. It was hard on Nick, but we knew that Dr. Greene was doing the best he could. Every time he had a surgery, he got a little bit stronger."

GROWING UP

At home, the Trails tried to make life as normal as possible for Nick and his two sisters. 

"My parents always told me that I could do anything that I set my mind to. They just believed in me always," says Nick.

"Many times he has shared that his favorite Bible Verse is Philippians 4:13 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,'" says Monica Trail. "I think, because we always encouraged him and believed in him, he really believed (he could do it), because his family believed in him."

And what Nick wanted to do most of all, was be involved in sports.

"Even as a child with a disability, Nick was always active in sports," remembers Monica. "All the way from junior high to high school. There wasn't any kid on any other team that felt as much of a part of a team than Nick did."

Bobby remembers when Nick was 5 years old playing tee-ball, and how his coach would take him up to the tee in his walker, and then after he hit the ball, would grab him up and run him around to the bases.

"Anything that Nick wanted to do, he did," says Bobby. "We never told him he couldn't."

Monica remembers a story about how Nick's positive attitude and strong faith kept him going.

"He loved baseball as much as any other sport. All of his friends were trying out, and Nick just got quiet, and as I looked over at him, he had a look like he had a feeling of 'I wish I could.' But he said 'What is wrong with me? Crying over something like that. I have more things going for me than playing baseball.' And then he said 'I can be as much a part of baseball as I want to be.'"

BIG ORANGE FEVER

Anyone who meets the Trails immediately knows their favorite football team: the University of Tennessee Volunteers.

Bobby remembers that on every Saturday during football season, their house in Manchester would become tailgate central for all of their friends.

"We'd turn down the volume (on the television) and turn up John Ward and watch the Vols."

Like his father, Nick grew to become a huge Vol fan. It was during one game in particular that father and son had a conversation that neither would ever forget.

"In 1998 when we were playing Florida, there was a sense of excitement about that game. Nick and I had been coming to the games for five years. We had wheelchair accessible seats," remembers Bobby. "We were sitting there as the band formed the giant 'T' and they were getting ready to run through it. Nick said, 'Man, I'd give anything if I could do that,' and I just said 'You will, if that's what you want to do. You will.'"

COLLEGE BOUND

There was no doubt where Nick Trail was going to go to school: the University of Tennessee.

"I knew for a long time that this is where he wanted to come to school," says Monica. "I never would squash his dream to come here but in the back of my mind (I thought) 'That's such a long way.' I guess I thought he couldn't do without me. But he did."

While at the University of Tennessee, Nick became a part of the university's equipment team.

"I always wanted to be a part of the team in some way," says Nick. "Just going through my freshman year, all the way up to now. I've never felt more a part of a team than I do now."

Nick, a graduate student, is a graduate assistant equipment manager. 

"I work security at all of U.T.'s practices, and I stock and inventory equipment: helmets, shoulder pads, cleats. I re-distribute them to the players. I'm one of the guys in charge of a lot of equipment and make sure it gets distributed correctly."

Nick loves his job with the University and says it's all about relationships.

"It's all about building those relationships--building relationships with the players, that's the greatest thrill for me,  to look and see Eric Berry sitting there. Me and Eric are close, we cut up and crack jokes."

Nick Jokes that during the games he tries to stay out of the way and on the opposite ends of the ball.

"But when something breaks, I can get the necessary tools or get someone to fix it and get back in. I'm there mainly as a spectator during the game. I'm on the sidelines, yelling and hootin' and hollerin' and all the fun stuff. I've got the best seat in the house, I do. I know people who would love to have my job, so I feel incredibly blessed to be able to do what I do. Tennessee football is my second family."

RUNNING THROUGH THE T

Every home game, The Pride of the Southland Marching Band forms a 'T' and the Volunteers and staff run through it onto the field. One of them running on the field is the boy doctors said might not even walk. 

For nearly 7 years, Nick's parents have traveled 3 hours from Manchester to see their son run through the T.

Bobby remembers the first time he heard his son would fulfill that dream they talked about years before.

"Nick called us at home said 'Guess what?' and I said 'What?' and he said 'I'm running through the T on Saturday,'" remembers Bobby. "Man, it was like you know, a dream coming true. I was at work and I was thinking of all the things that Nick had been through, and so I just kind of wrote a poem to Nick, never meant for anyone else but Nick."

Though short in length, the poem spoke volumes about a father and his pride in a son who had overcome many obstacles.

"It was just about my experiences growing up, wanting to run through the T and to let that dream go, but Nick didn't have to let that dream go. It means everything, really. When I saw Nick go through that T wobbly-legged and all, his mother and I were just in tears. It was something else."

"Truly, my dad is my hero," says Nick. "The first week I ran out through the T, he sent me this poem. It made me cry. Still, thinking about it does. I showed it to some of my other managers, and they showed it to my boss Roger Frazier, and he took it to Coach Fulmer and Coach Fulmer cried."

INSPIRING OTHERS

Currently, Nick is finishing up his second year of graduate school at the University of Tennessee and will graduate in December with a degree in Public Relations.

After that, he says he doesn't know what will happen.

"I'm looking forward to God showing me what's next."

Nick also visits area churches to speak to people about his faith and how it's helped him.

"I feel like God has given me a gift to be able to share what I've been through with other people," he says. "You know, life's tough, but if there's somebody that's always there that never leaves you, it's God. God has shown me that."

Nick's greatest fans are and will always be, his parents.

"I think Nick has taught me and his dad and sisters just to never give up," says Monica Trail. "You have to play the hand you're dealt."

"If there's a father that's as proud as I am, I don't know where he's at," says Bobby.