CHICAGO – A Minnesota hockey player could benefit from experimental stem cell therapy after he was paralyzed during a game last month.

Matt Olson, a 20-year old defenseman for the Chicago Cougars Junior Hockey team lost control during at a game on February 21 crashing head first into the boards. His doctor says the injury rendered him a paraplegic at the Sear Centre Arena outside of Chicago.

Dr. John Ruge, the neurosurgeon who is treating Matt at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, says doctors at first thought the spine was severed but discovered it was severely pinched instead. A surgical procedure was done to straighten Matt’s spine and doctors also are trying a stem cell procedure on Olson, the first of its kind for someone paralyzed.

“One thing I’ll say is there’s hope,” Ruge insisted. “And this isn’t just generic hope. The hope is because it wasn’t completely severed, the spinal cord is in continuity, it’s decompressed now, and the other thing is we were able to give him a novel derived stem cell therapy. The first in the nation to do that.”

The stem cell treatment has been effective for stroke patients, but It is too early to know if it will help in Olson’s recovery. One thing is certain: the road ahead will be a long one for Matt.

“He has a very long journey ahead of him, but we know Matt, the person that he is, and that he will face these challenges with the same tenacity that made him a great hockey player,” said his mother, Sue Olson.

Sue and Doug Olson met with reporters in Chicago Tuesday, speaking for the first time about their son’s condition.

“We don’t know what that future holds for him,” said Sue Olson about her son Matt. “He’s going to have new goals to set.”

His parents say he did not suffer brain trauma so he is still the same person inside, but physically Matt is paralyzed from the shoulders down. He can’t talk much at this point, but they expect that to change.

Doug Olson, Matt’s father, expressed gratitude for the support offered by both their hockey family at Totino Grace, where Matt skated varsity for four years setting a record for the most games played in school history, and the Olson’s new hockey family in Chicago.

“All of the hockey community in the area has just embraced us and being so far from home, it’s kind of hard,” Doug Olson explained, “but they (the extended Chicago hockey community) have attended to all of our needs.”

With all that’s happened, and considering the uncertainly that lays ahead, Matt remains in good spirits. His mother says he is constantly joking around with visitors and staff.

“He says a lot with his facial expressions. And he has a great sense of humor,” shared Sue Olson. “He’s won the hearts of the hospital staff here. He’s become very popular.”

A fund has been set up to help the Olsons with their mounting medical bills. In two weeks the GoFundMe account has reached nearly $100,000. The Olsons will remain in Chicago for the foreseeable future.