THIBODAUX – As one of his last acts during a century-long life of charity and accomplishment, retired Houma attorney Elton Darsey ensured a better future for a paralyzed Thibodaux athlete he only recently met.

Darsey donated $40,000 this week to the Myron Wright Foundation, whose 22-year-old namesake suffered a spinal-cord injury while playing football for Thibodaux High in 2002.

Darsey died Wednesday morning of natural causes, his great-niece, Diane Baker, said. Continue Reading »

Thrill-Seeker Has Led ‘Wonderfully Fulfilling Life’ Since Accident

VIENNA, Va. – At 67, Sharon Hovey says she is ready to settle down.

An Ashville native and self-described thrill-seeker, Ms. Hovey says she has lived her life on the edge – though bound to a wheelchair for the last 50 years by Quadriplegia. Continue Reading »

Cells from the human nose are showing further promise in remediating spinal cord injury, according to research from the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Six weeks after injecting cells from the human nose (olfactory ensheathing glia) into the injured spinal cords of rats, the researchers found improvements in the animals’ movement.

“We found improvements in hind limb function of these animals,” said Dr Catherine Gorrie, from the Neural Injury Research Unit at UNSW. “They performed significantly better on locomotive tasks than those who didn’t have the injections.” Continue Reading »

When they were 15, Tim O’Shea and his friend Ben Harvey were keen rugby players. But a week before his sixteenth birthday Ben was tackled during a game and his spinal cord was injured, rendering him a quadriplegic.

The tragedy has inspired Tim, a QUT biomedical engineering graduate, to go into spinal cord repair research – in a big way. Continue Reading »

Local Snocross racer J.P. Price has chosen to lead a pledge fundraising program and will ride the Canadian SnoCross Race Association season opener event at Searchmont Resort on December 6-7th, 2008.

He challenges the residents, business owners, bingo halls and sports clubs to pledge for Shoot for a Cure in raising funds and awareness for Spinal Cure Research through the Canadian & American Spinal Research Organizations (CSRO/ASRO).

Everyday, we all take risks, whether it is motorsports, school sports, hockey, walking, biking or working. Please pledge today and help the CSRO/ASRO, who is dedicated to the improvement of the physical quality of life for persons with a spinal cord injury and those with related neurological deficits, through targeted medical and scientific research. Continue Reading »

BURLINGTON, Vt., Nov. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Just as ski resorts are opening for the season, the Kelly Brush Foundation kicked off its 2008/2009 Ski Racing Safety is No Accident Campaign with the announcement of over $20,000 in grants to ski racing clubs and programs across the country. The grants are part of a campaign to promote and improve ski racing safety.

Among the recipients are some of the most prestigious racing programs in the nation including the Mount Mansfield Ski Club at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont and the Aspen Valley Ski Club at Aspen in Colorado. Each club won a $10,000 grant earmarked for enhancing safety on the trails where their young racers train and race. Continue Reading »

People paralysed by spinal cord injuries could soon be “repaired” using cells from their own noses, say Otago University researchers.

The Health Ministry’s ethics committee has just approved an application by the Spinal Cord Society to open the way for a clinical trial involving 12 patients, which could start next year.

The society’s president, Noela Vallis, said there was no shortage of volunteers ready to take part. Continue Reading »

A cure for spinal injuries that leave people paralyzed, currently incurable, is being developed by Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago. They are looking into using new nanotechnology that could enable them to completely heal cut and severed spinal cords allowing the previously paralyzed to walk again.

Spinal cord injury often leads to permanent paralysis and loss of sensation below the site of the injury due to damaged nerve fibers which can’t regenerate. These nerve fibers (axons) have the capacity to grow but don’t because they are blocked by scar tissue that have developed around the injury. Continue Reading »

An education program promoting spinal injury prevention was on track to reach the major milestone of 80,000 students by the end of the year.

Minister for Disabilities Services, Lindy Nelson-Carr said Disability Services Queensland had provided funding of $90,000 over three years for the Spinal Injuries Association program which informs young people about spinal cord injury and how to prevent it.

“The program targets young ones and raises their awareness about preventing spinal cord injuries before they enter the highest risk time of sustaining an injury, between 15 and 30,” Ms Nelson-Carr said.

“We know young adults are at higher risk of spinal cord injury than any other group, with the top three causes being road trauma, falls or crushes, and water-related accidents.” Continue Reading »

Dalhousie Medical School researchers have discovered that embryonic stem cells may play a critical role in helping people with nerve damage and Motor Neuron diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), regain muscular strength.

Motor neurons reside in the spinal cord and control limb movements by enabling muscles to contract. Diseases like ALS cause them to degenerate, resulting in muscle weakness, Atrophy, and eventual paralysis. Continue Reading »