Lymon reflects on scare

More than a week has passed since a freak accident nearly cost Selwyn Lymon not only his football future, but also his eye-sight.

Following Tuesday's practice — Lymon wore a purple jersey, but caught passes in anticipation of playing Saturday against Wisconsin — he reflected on what occurred the weekend before last.

It was then that Lymon was struck directly in the right pupil with a rigid projectile fired from an air-powered gun, from roughly 25 feet away, making his eye immediately well up with blood and swell considerably. At the time, he'd been playing a late-night/early morning "game" with teammates on one of Purdue's golf courses, but had removed his protective eyewear.

The Fort Wayne native was immediately taken to a local emergency room by teammate/roommate Greg Orton.

"I was lying there for a good hour," Lymon said, "not knowing if the doctor's going to come back and tell me I'm going to be able to see or that I might have lost my vision for good. That was the longest hour, probably, of my life."

The worst-case scenario was permanent impaired vision in the eye that had bled so badly.

The result of initial tests were positive, though. After examining Lymon and having a CT scan administered, the doctor brought with him a favorable, albeit still uncertain, verdict.

"As soon as (the doctor) said I should get my vision back, that was enough for me that night," Lymon said. "I actually had sleeping pills that night, because I couldn't really sleep on that knowing that my vision might not come back. I couldn't go to sleep, so he prescribed me some sleeping pills, so I could go to sleep every night, for about three or four days."

The doctor's initial projection has proven accurate, though it took about three days for Lymon's vision to return.

On Tuesday afternoon, Lymon had an appointment with a specialist, who gave him the thumbs-up.

"He told me it's all cleared up," said Lymon, showing no apparent lasting physical evidence of the injury, "and I'm ready to go. Hopefully today was my last time going in (to see the doctor)."

Lymon missed this past weekend's game at Northwestern, remaining in West Lafayette while his teammates won 31-10 in Evanston.

To say that Lymon saw a promising football future nearly go up in smoke would be an understatement.

In his first season of college football action, Lymon, who sat out last season, has already caught 21 passes for 422 yards and two touchdowns. His eight-catch, 238-yard, two-TD game at Notre Dame Sept. 30 was one of the biggest games by a receiver in all of college football this season.

With this now behind him, Lymon hopes to pick up where he left off pre-incident.

"As far as I know, I'm playing Saturday," Lymon said. "I got into practice today and everything's going as planned. I didn't have any problems catching the ball today."

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