They say life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but rather by the moments that take your breath away.

In Rob Marrero's case, life is measured by the number of breaths he will take - on his own - after he undergoes a rare surgery to repair his phrenic nerve, and by the moments - with his wife and family - that will take his breath away.The 31-year-old Lansford man, who played wide receiver for the Mountain Top Reapers, a semi-pro football team, was seriously injured in a game last May. He was hit while jumping into the end zone to make a catch, causing him to land on the top of his head.Rob made the catch and scored a touchdown, but the play left him helpless, unable to feel or move his body."I didn't expect it to be this serious," his wife Carrie said of the play."I was at the game with my kids and we thought we would enjoy the day watching the game - we all love football - and then go home to grill barbecue chicken. We never made it that far. It was raining pretty hard that day and I took the kids and sat in the car while the game continued."I couldn't see anything going on down on the field," said Carrie."Then Rob's teammate knocked on the window of the car and told me Rob was down and couldn't feel anything. He was asking for me. I could tell by Rob's eyes that he was scared, but I figured it was a really bad stinger. He's had them before. They all did and they always wore off."But this time was different - Rob could not get off the field on his own.With one snap of a football, Marrero's life, and those of his wife and children, Tyler, 11, and Gabriella, 2, changed forever."I had to wait for my dad to pick up my kids from the field so I could go to the hospital, where I was told Rob was in ICU," Carrie said."ICU is never good news and I started to worry. I think it was then that I knew it wasn't good. I still didn't know what was wrong, but I knew it was bad."Rob's injury, which Carrie learned about after she reached Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, was to his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own."It was pure devastation," Carrie said about learning Rob would not walk again. "So many things flashed through my mind. It was almost like I didn't believe it at first. I just stared at his arms and legs for hours, waiting for them to move, but they didn't. We couldn't understand why this happened to him."I remember the fear in his eyes as he repeated over and over 'I'm scared,'" she added. "Then, throughout the first week in the hospital, he kept asking me why they haven't done surgery yet. I felt so helpless because I knew I didn't have the answer he wanted to hear."He thought there was going to be some type of surgery that could repair some damage and give him some mobility back (even just his arms), but there was nothing they could do and I didn't have the heart to tell him for about a week."That moment on the football field, which took everyone's breath away, hasn't stopped Carrie from loving her husband unconditionally."I don't think our relationship could have gotten much stronger than it was before," she said. "He had a rough life and for almost 13 years of it, I was always there. We've always been each other's best friend and I'll always be his biggest fan."It's not always easy though," she admitted. "Sometimes it's hard to find a balance between being his wife and being his nurse."Rob was in ICU at Geisinger for two weeks before being transferred to Good Shepherd Specialty Hospital in Bethlehem, where he stayed for a month. He was sent to Magee Rehabilitation in Philadelphia for three months before coming home.As Rob rehabbed and learned to function in his new life, Carrie took care of the children and worked to make sure he would have care and support at home after he was released.She began the process of buying a house in Lansford that was handicap accessible and began learning to become Rob's primary caretaker.There were several breakthroughs over the next few months that showed how strong Rob's will to heal was."It was things that wouldn't have seemed like much to anyone else, but they were huge for us," said Carrie."There was physical progress, as well as things like Rob learning to navigate his power chair with the sip-n-puff control, learning to swallow food again, controlling a computer with his eye movements."I think the most memorable was a few weeks after his collar was removed (he wore it for over three months) and he suddenly realized he could slightly move his head. He listened to his mp3 player and did the head bob!"On Oct. 6, 2011, Rob came home to his family and a house that was not right for his new life."The house he came home to was set up all wrong and we had the hospital bed and supply cabinets in the living room and steps everywhere," Carrie recalled. "We were lucky enough to be able to buy our new house where everything Rob would need to access is all on one floor, and we only need a small ramp or two outside."Everything has changed and everyday is a struggle," she continued."It's both physically and mentally exhausting. Our house is always busy with people coming in and out and the phone never stops ringing. We've all had to adjust to so many changes and it hasn't been easy. Some days there's so much tension in the house and no way to release it."Rob's accident has been particularly hard on their son, Tyler."Honestly, Tyler has been struggling," Carrie said. "He's angry and he doesn't know who to blame. He misses having a dad the dad that threw balls with him in the yard and had boys night out on Fridays. He feels like he was robbed of his dad."Gabriella, on the other hand, sees nothing different. She absolutely adores her daddy and loves to help take care of him. She even rides on his lap in the chair when we go for walks. She's daddy's baby."As the family tries to adjust, one persistent problem still plagues them - Rob's inability to breathe on his own.While in the hospital, tests determined Rob was not able to cough, which meant he couldn't keep his lungs clear of mucus and therefore, he could not be taken off the ventilator.Doctors also tested his phrenic nerve, which provides electrical impulses to the diaphragm muscle, instructing it to contract and the lungs to expand. The results were not good. Rob's phrenic nerve was severely damaged and his diaphragm was paralyzed."Our hearts were broken," Carrie said.Doctors told the Marreros that there was nothing more they could do, but Carrie wouldn't take no for an answer."Because I love my husband terribly, I didn't accept the diagnosis," Carrie said. "If there was anything that could be done, I was going to find it."And find it, she did.Carrie began researching to find someone who could improve Rob's quality of life and enable him to breathe on his own.Her search led her to Dr. Matthew Kaufman, a surgeon who specializes in plastic and otolaryngology (head and neck) surgeries with the Institute for Advanced Reconstruction in Shrewsbury, N.J. Kaufman is one of only two surgeons in the United States who specialize in phrenic nerve surgery."Rob's family was told he wasn't a candidate to reverse this breathing problem," Kaufman said."In patients with spinal cord injuries, no communication happens between the brain and the nerve, so if you think 'breathe,' nothing happens because that connection is no longer there. In some cases with high spinal cord injuries like Rob's, they have diaphragm paralysis and that is what he has," he said."We're happy he found us because we see how difficult it is living with this spinal cord injury and any improvement we could make for him and his family will be great."Now, 10 months after his accident, Rob may soon be able to take a second "first breath" on his own.On March 15, Rob will travel to the Center for Treatment of Paralysis and Reconstructive Nerve Surgery at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center.The next day Kaufman will attempt to transfer a usable nerve onto Rob's damaged phrenic nerve and install a diaphragm pacemaker to his chest."The diaphragm pacemaker acts like the brain if the person didn't have the problem," he said. It will send electrical signals from a secondary source to the healthy nerve via a transmitter and instruct the diaphragm to contract so Rob can take a breath.The surgery will take around four hours, Kaufman explained, noting that Rob's case is rare because he has both phrenic nerve damage and diaphragm paralysis.During surgery Kaufman will locate the phrenic nerve on both sides of Rob's neck and attach a functional nerve to the damaged nerve. He will then install a wire around the new nerve, which will act as the receiver for the pacemaker.If the surgery is a success, Kaufman said Rob may begin breathing without the use of a ventilator within a year.He will have to be weaned off the ventilator slowly, but Rob and Carrie are hopeful that by this time next year, he will be breathing a little easier.Rob is excited about the surgery and for the future he has with his family."I don't want to dwell on my accident because I can't change it," he said."I'm looking forward to the future after my surgery. I was so lucky to have my wife be so persistent in researching and finding this amazing doctor and surgery. It helps me to hold on to the hope that soon there might be a cure for paralysis."Until then, I'll just keep counting the blessings I still have in my life."