[KootenayFlamesFan]

Feel bad for the guy, too young to be in that much pain daily and tough for him to retire at age 29.

Horton, who hasn’t played since April, is in near constant pain — sometimes agony — because of a degenerative back injury that has derailed his NHL career.

“I can’t stand up like a normal person; I can’t bend over,” Horton said in his first public comments about his condition. “I can’t run. I can’t play with my kids. To get in and out of the car, I’m like a 75-year-old man … so slow and stiff. I can’t sleep at night. I try to lay down and my back seizes up and I can’t move, so sleeping is out. I’m like a zombie in the daytime.”

But the alternative to dealing with such misery is just as awful. Horton could have surgery to relieve the pain, but the procedure — likely a three- or four-level spinal fusion with a titanium rod — would mean the end of his NHL career at only 29 years old.

“I don’t want to have surgery, because of what that means,” Horton said, his voice breaking behind a smile. “I don’t want to live with this pain, but I don’t want to make that decision. It’s hard for me to say that, at 29 years old, I’m done. I mean, really? Done at 29?”

“I’ve tried everything,” Horton said. “I’ve seen so many doctors. So many people think they can fix me and they’re so optimistic, and then I get optimistic, but then … nothing changes. It’s so frustrating. I’ve heard from so many people with back issues, and it’s a different thing, the pain. It controls everything.”

The Blue Jackets and Horton have opted to wait and hope that — somehow, someway — his back pain fades over time. But nobody in the organization seems optimistic. Horton sighed and shook his head when asked how realistic the wait-and-see approach is.

“At some point soon, we’ve got to make the call,” he said, referring to surgery.

Once or twice a week, Horton stops by Nationwide Arena. But he has no locker stall in the dressing room, no uniform hanging with his name on it, no new sticks being delivered or skates being sharpened.

“I’m a ghost,” he said with a laugh. “But I’m not giving up. I still feel young other than my back. As long as I can hold off the surgery, I feel like there’s a chance. A chance for something. A miracle. Something.”

http://bluejacketsxtra.dispatch.com/...ts-horton.html