Former Iowa football player Spading recovering from broken neck

Former Iowa football player Kyle Spading remains in an Iowa City hospital after he broke his neck in two places during an early-morning rollover crash Friday.

Spading, 24, of Belle Plaine, was pulled from a minivan that crashed along Highway 212, about five miles south of Belle Plaine, authorities said. The wreck was reported around 2:20 a.m, and deputies arrived to find Spading trapped, according to the Iowa County sheriff's office.

Spading was airlifted to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where he underwent surgery to align his spine with a rod and screws, according to his mother's journal entry on CaringBridge.com. Surgeons reported fractures to the C4 and C5 vertebrae caused "severe stretching and bruising" to Spading's spinal cord.

As of Sunday, Spading had no movement of his arms or legs, but has feeling in his upper chest and some movement in his shoulders. Family reported on the journal that he is sedated and they have limited his visitors.

A breathing tube has prevented most verbal communication, but Spading has been responding and smiled over the weekend, according to the journal.

"He is really trying to communicate with us much more with lots of nods," Kay Spading wrote. "They put him in a chair for the first time this afternoon, and he was somewhat unsure if he liked this, but with a little help with some pain medication was able to tolerate it for about an hour and 15 minutes. Was nice to see him up and looking at us."

Bob Spading said his son underwent a second surgery Tuesday and remains in the intensive care unit.

“The prognosis is uncertain at this time,” Spading said. “Granted, the family's probably got a pretty good idea, but there's no crystal ball in this situation, where you can really say with any degree of certainty just how things will turn out.”

Spading was a walk-on member of the Iowa football team from 2006 to 2009. He was a three-time all-state football player at Belle Plaine High School, but did not see game action for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa County authorities have not released other details about what caused the crash. A phone call to Sheriff Robert Rotter was not immediately returned.