After more than four weeks at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Blair Holliday is being transferred to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia for rehabilitation. Once settled in, Holliday made a couple of important phone calls.
One call was to Duke head football coach David Cutcliffe. Coach Cutcliffe gathered his staff around in the Yoh Football Center so that they could all talk to the second-year receiver. According to Cutcliffe,
“We had him on speakerphone, and it was just great to hear his voice – a sound that absolutely filled the room with exuberance. We talked about the rehabilitation process and how important it is, and when I asked him if he understood how much we loved him, he responded with a confident ‘yes’.”
The other call Holliday made was to his parents, Leslie and Rick Holliday. Leslie gave some insight into her conversation with her son,
“Hearing Blair’s voice was so special. He is fighting through this just like we knew he would, and to have the support of so many family members and friends is just amazing. I told him that I loved him, and to hear the response of ‘I love you too, Mom’, was truly an inspiration.”
Leslie Holliday also had a message to those who have been following Blair's story. "We are so thankful to everyone for their thoughts and prayers."
The Shepherd Center is a not-for-profit hospital that specializes in spinal cord and brain injuries. U.S. World and News ranks the Shepherd Center as one of the top 10 hospitals for rehabilitation in the nation.
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