Film producer Tony Wilson answers the question without pause.

“No doubt in my mind I’ll jog again,” he says firmly. “No doubt.”

Helicopter pilot Richard Green shares a similar goal.

“I’m going to walk again. I aim to get back and keep going.”

Both men exude deep confidence and strong-willed determination as they continue to recover from multiple injuries sustained in a helicopter crash that occurred during the filming of an Iowa-based baseball movie called “The Final Season.”

Wilson, 50, was a key player in bringing the story to life (see sidebar). Green, 73, was piloting the craft when it struck a power line, killing cameraman Roland Schlotzhauer.

The two survivors were transported to the Level I Trauma Center at UI Hospitals and Clinics, where a team of trauma experts, including the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) care team headed by Steven Hata, MD, devoted itself to both patients’ recoveries.

“Given the severity of injuries, the outcome for both patients was quite fortunate,” says orthopaedic surgeon Sergio Mendoza, MD, who performed Wilson’s spine reconstructive procedures.

In fact, Wilson’s Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 48 (anything above 15 is considered major) and his probability of survival was 87 percent. Richard Green’s ISS was 41 and his probability of survival only 39 percent because of his age.

Wilson’s injuries included severe chest trauma, a spine fracture with spinal cord injury, and severe leg injuries. Besides two major spine operations, he underwent ‘bone transport,’ a leg-lengthening procedure performed by orthopaedic surgeon Larry Marsh, MD, and colleagues.

Green spent eight days in the SICU with injuries that included four fractured vertebrae, a broken pelvis, internal bleeding, a crushed ankle, and head trauma.

His surgical care team included Marsh, trauma and thoracic surgeon Tim Thomsen, MD, and neurosurgeon Patrick Hitchon, MD.

Today, Wilson is helping put the finishing touches on the movie, which premiered at the Tribeca film festival in New York City. The 1978 University of Iowa graduate walks in near-normal fashion and hopes to jog again as he continues to rehabilitate.

 “The care I received was exceptional,” he says. “Everyone was so kind to our family. We had quite a prayer chain going with a lot of people involved.”

Green underwent repair and instrumentation for his spinal fracture in October 2006. Since then he has shown significant improvement and is now is ambulatory with the help of leg braces and a walker.

“The surgical experts here, including Dr. Hitchon and the neurosurgical service, are the best,” he says.

For more information about the spine experts at UI Hospitals and Clinics, patients and families should contact UI Health Access or visit www.uihealthcare.com/spine.

For consultation or referral, physicians should contact UI Consult.

“It was a horrible accident but if it had to happen, I couldn’t have gone to a better place than University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.”

                                                      —Film producer Tony Wilson

‘The Final Season’

Inspired by the award-winning movie “Rocky,” producer Tony Wilson devoted 15 years of his life to the making of “The Final Season,” only to see his survival jeopardized by a helicopter crash in the final days of filming. Despite the accident on June 30, 2006, location shooting was completed two days later. The film has yet to secure a distributor to get it into threaters, but its backers hope for a late summer 2007 release. It tells the true story of Kent Stock, who in the early 1990’s gave up a job and ditched his wedding plans to take over as head coach of the storied high school baseball team in Norway, Iowa. Stock had to win over his players and convince them and himself that he could fill their legendary former coach's shoes and that they could go out winners in what became tiny Norway High’s final baseball season.

—Michael Sondergard

On the Set
Tony Wilson and his wife, Roxanne, enjoyed a proud moment at the ballpark. Photo by Mary Chind, Copyright 2007. The Des Moines Register and Tribune Company. Reprinted with permission.

Play Ball
Some scenes from “The Final Season” were filmed at the home playing field for the Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball club. The movie required 46 speaking parts, a crew of  200, and about 2,000 extras.