It will be two years ago this August that Josh Basile’s life took an irreversible turn on the shores of Bethany Beach, Del. Until that day, Basile, a graduate of the Bullis School and a star tennis player on Skidmore College’s varsity tennis team, was an active and engaged young man who had not yet grappled with major adversity. Continue Reading »

Summer is the peak period for diving accidents, say spinal cord injury experts and lifeguards, who warn of the dangers of diving into shallow water.

Last summer in Quebec, 14 people suffered a spinal cord injury while diving, according to the Lifesaving Society, which certifies lifeguards and analyzes drowning deaths to promote safety. Continue Reading »

After hanging out with relatives in southeastern Pennsylvania until the wee hours on Feb. 18, 2001, Steve Yaros headed home, south on Limestone Road toward Pike Creek.

It was just before 4:30 a.m. He drifted into sleep and his Chevrolet Cavalier drifted off the road, striking a utility pole and causing several power outages in the area.

Yaros wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. His skull smashed against the car’s door jam, and two of the discs in the Cervical region of his spinal cord were shattered. When Yaros left the intensive care unit at Christiana Hospital, Continue Reading »

An American spinal injury expert has been updating Bermuda medics on the latest developments in the care and Rehabilitation of patients who have suffered debilitating injuries to their spines. Dr. Kevin O’Connor, medical director of the spinal cord injury programme at Boston’s Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, also met with health insurance professionals on the Island. A handful of patients from Bermuda end up at the Boston hospital each year to receive specialist treatment. Continue Reading »

A spinal-cord injury from the Korean War left Donald Taylor with only limited use of his legs and arms. But that did not stop him from reaching out to other disabled veterans.

He started an annual Cigar Night at an Italian restaurant that — over the past decade — raised more than $300,000 for the nonprofit Paralyzed Veterans Association of Florida Continue Reading »

Hamden resident Jon Sigworth, 19, who sustained a spinal cord injury during a recent visit to India, has rapidly become a legend in his community.

Whereas many people would recoil at the thought of having to use a wheel chair for the rest of their lives he, instead, has turned a negative set of circumstances into a positive one. Continue Reading »

‘A Tale of Two Similar Spinal Cord Injury Patients’

SHENZHEN, China, June 28 /PRNewswire/ — Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd. announced the successful treatment of two similar spinal cord injury patients using two different procedures that involved umbilical cord stem cells. One method involved surgical transplantation of stem cells directly into the spinal cord, while the other patient received the stem cells without surgery. The announcement was made following a two-month Rehabilitation and evaluation period by physicians in the patients’ native countries of the U.S.A. and Romania. Continue Reading »

(Columbia) June 26, 2006 – The University of South Carolinas Arnold School of Public Health is seeking volunteers for a study examining the effects of a two-week intensive treatment program on walking, balance, and mobility for individuals with spinal cord injury.

A news release says the study combines two Rehabilitation techniques to form a new therapy, known as Intensive Mobility Training. Continue Reading »

Tags Favored by Hollywood Trendsetters Now Available on Official Website

SHORT HILLS, N.J., June 26 /PRNewswire/ — The Christopher Reeve Foundation (CRF) today announced the launch of www.SupermanTag.org, the official website of the year’s hottest philanthropy-based jewelry, the Superman Tag. These dog tags engraved with the official Superman S-Shield bear the Foundation’s tagline, “Go Forward” — words that reflect Christopher’s belief that to overcome any adversity in your life, no matter how challenging, you need to Go Forward each day with strength, determination and courage. Continue Reading »

Years ago, when Barbara L. Johnson talked to friends about her son Christopher Reeve and his plans to pursue an acting career, her response was usually this:

“People would say, ‘You don’t really want him to go into this awful profession, do you?’ To which I would say, ‘I can no more stop him than I could stop a train!’ ”

Johnson, who lives in Princeton and is a retired journalist — she covered numerous beats for the Town Topics weekly newspaper from 1975 until 1997 — was reminded that she had made a pun on her son’s most famous movie, “Superman,” and she laughed heartily. Continue Reading »