A spinal cord injury affects the entire family.  For families who are dealing with a new spinal cord injury, there is often a sense of isolation that affects them as well as the patient.  Their world has also been suddenly and drastically changed in ways that it’s hard for anyone outside to really understand.

Now, there’s a new website, called FacingDisability.com, that uses the power of video to help families connect with the real-life experience of others who have “been there” and “done that.”  The website has more than 1,000 videos of people with spinal cord injuries and their parents, spouses, siblings and children talking about what they know and have learned from their own experiences. Continue Reading »

They came in wheels, with dogs and on foot to see dancers, sword-fighters and experts.

Visitors flowed in steadily, mostly in wheelchairs, to join the city’s first Annual Ability Expo, hosted by the Greater Kansas City Spinal Cord Injury Association . Call if part festival, part conference, part networking. Joan McMahon called it a success. Continue Reading »

Four wheelchair-bound friends are touring India in an effort to sensitise the government and the people to the need of making travel barrier-free for the disabled

Finding your way across the sprawling Rock Gardens in Chandigarh is not meant to be an effort, unless your movement is restricted by the wheelchair you are travelling in. The uneven paths make progress difficult and negotiating the narrow lanes is an exercise in patience. When Arvind Prabhoo, Sunita Sancheti, Neenu Kewlani and Nishant Khade decided to undertake a road trip across India, it was difficulties such as these that the wheelchair-bound friends had anticipated and hoped to document to sensitise governments to the need of making travel barrier-free. Continue Reading »

With Nov. 1 quickly approaching, there is still no start to the NBA season in sight. If you’re a basketball fan and you’re feeling depressed, angry and/or incomplete right now because of the lockout, you’re not alone. Even with college basketball still carrying on as usual, without the NBA, I fear that I won’t get my appropriate dose of hoops this season.

Thankfully, exactly what the doctor ordered to counter these gloomy lockout side-effects can be found right here in Mesa. Allow me to introduce you to the Banner Wheelchair Suns of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. Continue Reading »

ROBUST FUNCTIONAL REGENERATION BEYOND THE GLIAL SCAR Continue Reading »

The world’s first test on patients of a treatment for spinal cord injury using human embryonic stem cells is so far proving safe, one year after the first of four patients received injections.

The treatment, developed by researchers at UC Irvine, involves injection of neural cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into the site of a spinal cord injury within seven to 14 days — known as “acute” injuries, as opposed to longer-term injuries known as “chronic.”

None of the patients has experienced any adverse reactions from the treatment, according to Geron Corp., which is conducting the trials, although a few “mild” adverse reactions were reported from a drug used to suppress the patients’ immune responses. Continue Reading »

Vancouver – New research from the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation may help explain why people with spinal cord injury (SCI) have a higher risk of developing heart disease.

Damage to the autonomic nervous system is a key predictor of cardiovascular risk, researcher Rianne Ravensbergen told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2011, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Continue Reading »

The Challenges of Chondroitinase Development for Spinal Cord Injury Continue Reading »

Brian Keefer expects a lot of tears when he and his family watch the episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on Friday, accompanied by hundreds, if not thousands, of the volunteers who helped rebuild their house.

Keefer, 24, was paralyzed by a gymnastics accident in 2008. His upbeat attitude and close family caught the attention of the Extreme Makeover crew, who spent a week in June rebuilding the family home in Newberry Twp. to help Brian become as independent as possible and, perhaps, someday walk again.

Not even the Keefers have seen the episode yet, and they have not been allowed to invite outsiders into their home until the episode airs in order to keep the element of surprise. Continue Reading »

THE MIAMI PROJECT TO CURE PARALYSIS: CURRENT STUDIES TARGETING THERAPEUTIC HYPOTHERMIA AND SCHWANN CELL TRANSPLANTATION Continue Reading »