Newswise — A multi-million dollar grant from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) will allow six hospital centers, including the Methodist Neurological Institute (NI), to expand a spinal cord injury research network created by the Christopher Reeve Foundation (CRF). The North American Clinical Trials Network (NACTN) was organized by the CRF to bring promising therapies for spinal cord injury from the laboratory to clinical trials in an effective manner with maximum safety to patients undergoing treatment for their spinal cord injury.

As many as 400,000 Americans, many of them in the military, live with paralysis caused by spinal cord injury. The CRF’s North American Clinical Trials Network is collaborating with the DoD to optimize the requisite infrastructure to conduct clinical trials on emerging therapies that may one day help those living with paralysis. The $2.5 million grant will enable NACTN’s expansion to include military and additional civilian hospitals and, eventually, Veterans Administration Centers. Continue Reading »

Matthew Nagle only lived 27 years, but his example of encouraging disabled people to strive for a better way of life by participating in experimental treatments for Quadriplegia lives on.

Matthew died of a blood infection on July 23 at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton. He had been in a coma for nearly a week prior to his death.

“I can’t imagine how he got through each day, but he had empathy for other people in need,” his father Patrick, a retired Cambridge police sergeant, said while standing on a patio deck built by his son Michael for Matthew’s convenience. Continue Reading »

Nominations for the 2007 Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Hall of Fame are officially open!

Anyone can nominate candidates in any of 14 categories by completing the Online Nomination Form http://www.spinalcord.org/) on or before 5 pm Eastern Time on August 15.

Formed by NSCIA in 2005, the SCI Hall of Fame was created to celebrate and honor individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to quality of life and advancements toward a better future for all individuals with spinal cord injury. Continue Reading »

Research on rats with crushed spinal cords, similar to human injury, reveals that treatment soon after injury combining radiation therapy to destroy harmful cells and microsurgery to drain excess fluids significantly increases the body’s ability to repair the injured cord leading to permanent recovery from injury, according to the study published in the July 18 peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE. Since repair of damaged cord directly correlates with prevention of paralysis, this research demonstrates that conventional clinical procedures hold promise for preventing paralysis from spinal cord injuries.

Currently there is no cure for human spinal cord injury. Treatment after injury is largely limited to steroids administered to prevent further deterioration. Continue Reading »

An Irvine professor studies stem cells to look for a treatment for spinal cord injuries.

The motorcycle roars to life.

From his wheelchair David Bailey watches it take off.

Someday, the motocross and Supercross legend thinks. Someday soon – maybe.

For years, the promise of even modest recovery from the type of chronic spinal cord injury that Bailey had two decades ago has been little more than a cruel mirage. Continue Reading »

Paris Hilton recently made a generous donation to Jesse Billaumer's charity, Life Rolls On.

Jesse Billauer rolls into the Beverly Hills Hotel with a blonde bombshell by his side and immediately attracts everyone’s attention as soon as he opens his mouth. The tanned surfer is telling his friends to hold on to their girlfriends tight or he just might nab them up before the night is done. His friends laugh but quickly tighten their grip on their significant others. They know Billauer too well.

This is a man after all who got Paris Hilton to take off a couple of her sequined dresses for the night, stole kisses from Molly Sims and Brooke Burns and was photographed on the red carpet with Stefanie Sherk, his model girlfriend, sitting seductively on his lap. And that was just the beginning of his night.

Then again that’s just the way he rolls. Literally. Continue Reading »

INDIANAPOLIS — A doctor in Portugal is recruiting people through an Indiana hospital for a study on whether cells in nasal tissue can help repair damaged spinal cords.

Dr. Carlos Lima, a neuropathologist, says harvesting olfactory mucosa — naval-cavity tissue with mucus-secreting glands — and from a patient and putting it into his or her damaged spinal cord may be able to help regenerate spinal cells.

Lima already has led such a procedure on a Butler University student, Sarah Clay, who became a Paraplegic in an ATV accident five years ago. Continue Reading »

NEW YORK, July 25 (UPI) — U.S. medical scientists have developed a new spinal cord therapy that helps the body permanently recover from such injuries.

Researchers at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research studied rats with crushed spinal cords. The scientists found treatment soon after injury, combining radiation therapy to destroy harmful cells and microsurgery to drain excess fluids, significantly helped the body repair the injured cord. Continue Reading »

Family of Man Confined to a Wheelchair and Attorneys Donate $1 Million to The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis

TAMPA, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A man left forever disabled after a medical misdiagnosis, his family and the attorneys who helped them find justice have teamed up to donate $1 million to an organization working to find a cure for paralysis.

Announcement of this gift to The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis was made today by the victim, Allan Navarro, his family, and the trial team of Steve Yerrid, Rich Gilbert and David Dickey.

Accepting the donation was Marc Buoniconti, whose father, NFL Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti helped found both The Buoniconti Fund and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis after his son Marc was paralyzed during a college football game. Continue Reading »

Nathalie Lawson is grateful to the more than 400 people who have provided her with a little peace of mind while she oversees her daughter’s recovery.

At least for a little while, Lawson will not have the financial stress of worrying how she’s going to afford to stay by her daughter’s side while she recovers from a spinal cord injury at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

Four members of the Toronto Mounted Police were at Lockton Farms in Callander, Saturday, to perform during a fundraiser for Madison Lawson, 13, who is at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children recovering from a spinal cord injury she suffered when she was thrown from a horse. The fundraiser, organized by Madison's coach,Paige Lockton-Wilde, raised more than $9,000.