In an award-winning February 2014 report, Outside the Lines examined the story of heavyweight contender Magomed Abdusalamov, whose devastating brain injury three months earlier nearly killed him and raised serious questions about the treatment he received. Now the severely disabled former fighter and his wife, the parents of three young girls, confront profound challenges every day. John Barr reports.
“Our oldest more or less understands what happened to him. She seems to have accepted it and she’s waiting for her dad to get better. The middle one is always asking, when will her dad be back, she even made him a birthday card, ‘Daddy, I miss you, you’re the strongest’. It’s like she’s waiting for that other dad to come back.” – Bakanay Abdusalamova, Magomed Abdusalamov’s wife, on how their two oldest daughters (ages 9 and 6) are reacting to their father’s condition
“The man’s face was horribly disfigured. He was making all classic complaints that would be consistent with potentially having a brain injury. And then they abandoned the guy, didn’t put him in an ambulance whereby he would have gotten immediate care once he did get to the hospital that night.” — Paul Edelstein, Abdusalamov’s family attorney, on the civil lawsuit accusing New York State Athletic Commission doctors of negligence and medical malpractice.
