Two months ago, when the engine sputtered and the two-seater plane fell toward the Anclote River, Eric Stallworth's first thought was that he didn't want to hit any homes. His next thought was that he didn't want to drown. In those frenzied seconds, he didn't think about the other possibilities: breaking his back, having a doctor put a titanium cage in his spine, using a wheelchair to move from place to place. When the plane hit the marshy area in the river, he realized that his back was in terrible pain, he waited for a rescuer to take him and his flight student to shore. Later at Helen Ellis Memorial hospital, a doctor told him he had crashed one vertebra and cracked another. Orthopedic spine surgeon Robert Nucci removed the fragments from the shattered vertebra and implanted a titanium cage to stabilize Stallworth's spine column.  "I felt like I was going to be the bionic man." said Stallworth, 40, a flight instructor and East Lake High School teacher who lives in Holiday. The bionic man has recovered rapidly. He spent a short time in a wheelchair, then used a walker for a few weeks, then a cane. Less than two months after the accident, Nucci told him he could get rid of the cane and walk on his own. That was Monday. On Wednesday, Stallworth took a spin on his Harley-Davidson.
"It's good to start getting back to normal" he said. Stallworth's progress has amazed his doctor.
"Frankly, I'm surprised he was walking so quickly." said Dr Nucci, who practices in Palm Harbor. Nucci said few people would have recovered as fast. Stallworth suffered a tremendous trauma to his body during the accident, then underwent a long surgery and lost a lot of blood. Stallworth feels stronger every day and looks forward to returning next month to his job as a geography and history teacher at East Lake High School.   

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