‘This is just home for me’: Jesuit grad returns to place where he was paralyzed
Robert Paylor recently made his first trip back to the place where he suffered a major injury.
The Jesuit High product from El Dorado Hills attended Cal rugby's homecoming more than nine months after being paralyzed from the chest down during the national championship match.
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Paylor was at Witter Rugby Field in Berkeley on Saturday for the two-day, four-team Cal Invitational which also featured Army, UCLA and the Claremont Colleges.
"It has been an extremely long time since I've been here," Paylor said in a video produced by Cal. "This is just home for me."
Paylor suffered the injury May 6, as Cal secured its second consecutive national title with a 43-13 victory over Arkansas State. He has since received more than $800,000 toward his rehabilitation through an online fundraiser and received a visit from actor Bill Murray.
On Saturday, he was greeted by fans, well-wishers and teammates.
"It's just awesome to be here with my teammates and see them again, I love them so much," Paylor said. "They've been here to carry me throughout this whole process."
Viewers can see more about Paylor's story March 25 on "Pac-12 Sports Report," airing on Pac-12 Network.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"It's awesome to see how far he's come." - Eric Vande Griend, Physical Therapist on <a href="https://twitter.com/CalVarsityRugby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CalVarsityRugby</a> Robert Paylor's recovery. <br><br>Don't miss the full feature airing Sunday, March 25 on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pac12SR?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pac12SR</a>. <a href="https://t.co/XQAYUvxkU3">pic.twitter.com/XQAYUvxkU3</a></p>— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pac12Network/status/972653672827035649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This story was originally published March 13, 2018 at 5:38 PM with the headline "‘This is just home for me’: Jesuit grad returns to place where he was paralyzed."