Gulfstream: Coa leaving for treatment

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Sidelined jockey Eibar Coa had plans to leave Florida on Saturday for Panama, where he will undergo stem cell treatment for the next four weeks.

“I’m still slow on my right side, have trouble with my bowel and bladder and have neck pain,” said Coa, who has made a miraculous recovery after being left temporarily paralyzed in a riding mishap here one year ago. “I’m going to receive a series of 16 injections in my spinal cord that are supposed to regenerate and reconnect some of my damaged cells.”

Coa said the treatment is similar to what his friend and former riding colleague Rene Douglas, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a riding incident at Arlington Park several years ago, previously underwent in Panama.