Those paralyzed can’t detect effects of high temperatures

Not quite a year after a surfing accident left him a quadriplegic, Robert “Buzz” Chmielewski was at Rocky Point Beach in Baltimore County with a girlfriend, working on his tan.

They spent an hour sunbathing, then decided it was time to leave. So he sat up and started reaching for his wheelchair. The next thing he remembered was his girlfriend and father struggling to lift his limp body off the sand. Continue Reading »

Family and friends of a cancer survivor who was paralyzed in a car accident are coming together to help.

NewsCenter 5′s Jim Boyd reported that Marc Martino’s wife and 4-year-old Matt’s mother, Dana, was paralyzed in a car accident three months ago.

Dana Martino has been undergoing treatment at a spinal cord injury center in Atlanta. Continue Reading »

Cleveland — The body’s spinal cord is like a super highway of nerves. When an injury occurs, the body’s policing defenses put up a roadblock in the form of a scar to prevent further injury, but it stops all neural traffic from moving forward.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University, Drexel University and the University of Arkansas bypassed this roadblock in the spinal cord. First, the researchers regenerated the severed nerve fibers, also called axons, around the initial large Lesion with a segment of Peripheral nerve taken from the leg of the same animal that suffered the spinal injury. Continue Reading »

Gov. Blagojevich announces recipients of $5 million in new state stem cell research funding

Funds awarded to seven state university stem cell research projects

CHICAGO – Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today announced that seven projects at Illinois public universities will share $5 million in new state funding for the life-saving work of stem cell research. After President George Bush in July vetoed legislation that would have expanded scientists’ access to new, healthy uncontaminated stem cell lines, Continue Reading »

People with disabilities trying a sport that was just about impossible a few years ago

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS (AP) — Two years ago, Vijay Viswanathan severed his spinal cord while rappelling during a rock-climb on the Front Range. He has used a wheelchair ever since.

And although he has lost use of his legs, Viswanathan has not lost his taste for excitement. Viswanathan spent a recent Saturday and Sunday at Bald Eagle Lake in Steamboat Springs practicing wakeboarding and water skiing with 11 other participants with disabilities. It was part of a weekend event attended by people from as far away as Houston. Continue Reading »

Billionaire cash has kept embryonic stem-cell research alive–just barely.

Anti-abortion crusaders see research on embryonic stem cells as something akin to murder. Eli Broad sees it as a great way to save lives–and he is tapping his $6 billion fortune to help. Sidestepping the ban on federal funding of most stem-cell experiments imposed by President Bush five years ago, Broad, the founder of builder KB Home, gave $25 million in February to the University of Southern California to erect a stem-cell building. Continue Reading »

During Hurricane Katrina, Benilda Caixeta, a New Orleans resident with Quadriplegia, tried for two days to seek refuge at the Superdome. Despite repeated phone calls to authorities, help never arrived for Caixeta. Days later, she was found dead in her apartment, floating next to her wheelchair.

“Benilda need not have drowned,” testified Marcie Roth before the US House of Representatives Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus in November 2005. Roth, executive director of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, had personally placed calls to prompt Caixeta’s evacuation. Continue Reading »

Skin Deep: Imaging Technologies May Detect Pressure Ulcers And Deep-tissue Injuries That Healthcare Workers May Miss

For people with impaired mobility and reduced ability to sense injury, the risk is high for pressure ulcers that can develop when they sit or recline in one position too long or wear a poorly-fit prostheses for an extended period.

Healthcare professionals routinely check patients for early signs of erythema, or skin redness. Continue Reading »

This video shows how it is possible to play a game with a headtracker. Continue Reading »

Thad Taft, a 75-year-old disabled U.S. Air Force veteran from Thousand Oaks, received two gold medals at the 26th annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games, which took place recently in Anchorage, Alaska.

At age 21, Taft suffered a spinal cord injury and could no longer walk. He’d been serving in the military during the Korean War and was a crewmember of a plane that lost an engine and crashed. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs brought Taft “back to life,” the veteran said, and he’s remained positive when he might otherwise have been devastated. Continue Reading »