University Southern California Trojans
Nellum Has Successful Surgery On Left Leg
August 17, 2010 | Track & Field
Aug. 17, 2010
USC redshirt junior track athlete Bryshon Nellum had successful surgery to extract several bullet fragments from his left leg performed by Dr. James Tibone and assisted by Dr. Milan Stevanovic at USC Hospital on Thursday, Aug. 12. Nellum made an amazing recovery last season to compete at the NCAA Championships despite still feeling pain in his leg due to the affect of the fragments.
"It really was a miracle that Bryshon performed as well as he did last season," said USC Director of Track and Field Ron Allice. "We hope this will be successful and that we can move ahead to bring Bryshon to the potential he has always shown. It really shows how gifted of an athlete he is to perform the way he did last season."
Nellum virtually missed his entire first two seasons at USC as he suffered a severely strained hamstring in his first race as a Trojan in March of 2008 and then in October of 2008 was struck in the legs by random gunfire. He had surgery in 2008, but several of the fragments were too close to the nerve to extract at that time. In the surgery on Aug. 12, Dr. Tibone and Dr. Stevanovic were able to remove those fragments and after a short recovery period, Nellum should be able to begin resuming track activities.
Despite the pain Nellum felt last season, he was able to run a 45.94 time in the 400m dash to place third at the Pac-10 Championships and qualify for the NCAA Preliminary Rounds in that event. He also ran the leadoff leg for the Trojans' 4x400m relay team which advanced to the NCAA Championships and placed fifth with a time of 3:04.54. He also ran the first leg for the relay team at the Texas Relays on April 3 when the quartet posted a time of 3:03.26, the sixth-fastest time in school history.
Nellum was the 2007 Gatorade National Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year. He finished the 2007 season ranked No. 1 among high school athletes in both the 200m and 400m dashes. Nellum won both events as a junior and senior at the California Division I state meet to become the first competitor in the history of the track-rich state to win both events in consecutive seasons.
Players Mentioned
