New York Dragons WR/LB Chris Anthony started SpineLife, a not-for-profit organization, which assists athletes who have experienced spinal cord injuries or head trauma’s in sporting incidents. “Stand With Travis” is the first major project that SpineLife will undertake.

Anthony, who is entering his fifth season in the Arena Football League, was initially inspired to start SpineLife after tragically witnessing the death of Al Lucas — a player for the AFL’s Los Angeles Avengers — when the Dragons played the Avengers in 2005. Lucas passed away due to a spinal cord injury sustained in the game. Continue Reading »

Award Presentation to be Made at AAPD Leadership Gala in Washington, DC – March 7, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC, December 13, 2006 — The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is delighted to announce that the 2007 Henry B. Betts Award will be presented to Mark Johnson, a nationally-recognized activist, community organizer, and Director of Advocacy at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Henry B. Betts Award is named in honor of Henry B. Betts, M.D., a pioneer in the field of Rehabilitation medicine who started his career with the Institute in 1964, making it the base for his career as an advocate for people with physical disabilities and leader in the field of rehabilitation medicine, and who has devoted himself to improving the quality of life for people with disabilities. The award program, which is administered by AAPD, was created in 1989 by the Prince Charitable Trusts and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Continue Reading »

Frazier tower nearly done; new programs draw patients

Jen Boisvert, clad in black exercise clothes, went through some stretches in a sixth-floor gym at Frazier Rehab Institute’s downtown tower, part of a program to help her regain leg movement after a spinal-cord injury.

Not so long ago, the gym — and the sixth floor itself — weren’t there. They were added in a $93 million expansion that is just being completed. Continue Reading »

Teens learned a vital lesson during Spinal Cord Inury Awareness Week.

The idea was to educate teens about the dangers of accidents that can lead to paralyzing injuries.

Message received, said Western High School student Ali Bruns.

”People get in rushes and they don’t put seat belts on,” the 16-year-old Davie girl said. “When I am around people, I will definitely make sure they are wearing their seat belt.” Continue Reading »

Quadriplegic doctor treats patients with empathy at Novi rehab institute

Life for James Rudolph of Howell changed in a flash when a motorcycle crash in 2003 injured his spinal cord.

Damage to the bundle of nerves that control his body movements left Rudolph, now 25, paralyzed — and stunned by the challenge of facing life in a wheelchair.

But he has a doctor with rare empathy. Dr. Edward Nieshoff has a spinal cord injury, too. Continue Reading »

A 3-year-old paralyzed Kentucky boy learned to walk again after trying a therapy that was financed by the Christopher Reeve Foundation’s Neuro-Recovery Network.

The image is forever ingrained in our memory: “Superman” actor Christopher Reeve, suspended over a treadmill. He was one of the first to try this radical new therapy known as locomotor training, developed by Dr. Susan Harkema, professor of neurosurgery at the Kentucky Spinal Injury Research Center.

“The spinal cord itself has a great capacity to learn, to remember, to forget and to make decisions,” Harkema said. “And the spinal cord can do that even when it’s disconnected from the brain.” Continue Reading »

A Richmond teenager injured in a diving accident over the summer is back home with her family tonight. Kelsey Harbert spent almost four months in an Atlanta Rehabilitation center, recovering from a Vertebrae and spinal cord injury.

“I don’t remember hitting anything, doing anything on the bottom of the pool. The next thing I remember is seeing my best friend’s foot. It was really fuzzy, though, and thinking ‘Why can’t I move? Why am I just laying here? Do something,’”says Kelsey. Continue Reading »

GLASGOW – On July 1, Glasgow High School science teacher Todd Glaser and his family were at Fort Peck Lake for a picnic. Glaser was playing Frisbee with his 6-year-old son, Brett.

As he raced to beat his son to a catch, Glaser turned his head sharply.

“It was just like somebody shot me,” he said. “I fell kind of awkwardly, hit my knees, hit my head.”

Glaser was only in about 6 inches of water. But he could no longer move.

“I remember falling,” he said. “I remember trying to scream for my wife and I couldn’t. I didn’t have any Motor function.

“Then I thought I was going to drown.” Continue Reading »

‘Good Morning America’ to feature boy who walks again

June 3, 2005, is a day that Renee Ford will never forget.

She was at work in Owensboro, and her 2-year-old son, Chase, was at the baby sitter’s. He was jumping up and down on a couch when he fell backward and hit his head on the couch’s wooden arm.

Kids do things like that all the time and bounce right back up. “Unfortunately, that didn’t happen with Chase,” Renee Ford said. Soon, the only thing he would be able to move was his eyes. Continue Reading »

Quadriplegic, 26, Hereford

People tend not to look at me – straight in the eye – as they used to. I dived off a harbour wall on the Isle of Wight six years ago. But the murky water turned out to be only knee-deep. So everywhere below a spine bone known as C5, which disintegrated, is paralysed.

I love the smell of cowshit. My later childhood was on a farm in Hereford and I was often covered in the stuff. Happy, playful days. Continue Reading »