Hart Receiver Hospitalized by Freak Injury : High school football: DeLillio remains partially paralyzed after hitting head during pick-up basketball game.

WOODLAND HILLS — Domenic DeLillio, a wide receiver who helped Hart High reach the Southern Section Division II championship game, remains partially paralyzed after he was injured while playing basketball with friends last weekend.

DeLillio, a senior who finished second on the team with 36 receptions last fall, only has partial feeling in his legs, limited use of his arms and remains at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Woodland Hills.

DeLillio (6-foot-2, 180 pounds) was injured in a freak accident Sunday while participating in an indoor pickup game at Chatsworth Park. DeLillio said he pursued a loose ball out of bounds, jumped and apparently hit his head on a metal door jam.

DeLillio suffered a minor scalp wound, but could not move his extremities and paramedics were summoned.

His recollection of the incident is hazy.

“They said I hit my head,” DeLillio said Tuesday night. “Next thing, I’m laying there, face down, and I can’t move.”

DeLillio never lost consciousness and began a lengthy series of X-rays. He later underwent CAT-scan and magnetic resonance imaging exams, none of which found any apparent damage.

“It could be a bruised spine, a pinched nerve. . . . “ said Vera DeLillio, the player’s mother. “Nothing appears to be broken.”

However, his prognosis remains unclear, she said.

Eight hours after the incident, DeLillio began to regain feeling in his arms, though his strength remains limited.

He since has regained limited feeling below the waist, though he can’t walk or lift his legs. His mother on Tuesday night said that progress over the preceding 24 hours had been slow.

As is often the case with injuries relating to the spinal cord, doctors cannot yet predict the extent of DeLillio’s recovery.

“Right now, it’s wait and see,” his mother said. “It’s a waiting game.”

DeLillio, 17, a college prospect who transferred to Hart from Monroe High after his junior year, averaged 17.6 yards a catch and scored four touchdowns last season. Hart finished 13-1 and lost to Antelope Valley in the Division II championship game, 36-15.

Doctors already have spoken to the family about beginning physical therapy, but DeLillio’s mother isn’t sure when the player will be able to leave the hospital. DeLillio’s condition is stable, but since he is bedridden, she can’t care for him on her own because she works during the day.

“It took two nurses to lift him today,” she said.

His mother was summoned to the hospital with the news that Domenic had suffered a cut on the head. When she arrived, she learned it was much more serious.

“Then I got the real story,” she said.

DeLillio appears upbeat despite his uncertain prognosis.

When a family friend phoned and talk turned to football, DeLillio began discussing plans for college. He later spoke with another caller about the chances of the San Francisco 49ers winning the Super Bowl.

So far, he remains optimistic.

“Man, I’m trying to be,” he said.