The FDA’s go-ahead makes The Miami Project’s clinical trial to aid against spinal cord injury the only one in the United States.

The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis said Tuesday it has received federal approval to conduct “revolutionary” human trials to transplant a patient’s own Schwann cells, found mainly in the nervous system, to the site of recent spinal cord injuries in the hope that the trials may bring researchers closer to finding a cure for paralysis. Continue Reading »

A driver zips into a handicap parking space, bounces out of the car and runs inside the store, mall or theater.

Disabled? Yeah, right. Continue Reading »

It only takes a split second for a life altering spinal cord injury to occur.

Anthony Purcell, 24, of Newport Beach, knows that all too well.

After diving into the ocean in Florida in 2010 and hitting a sand bar, that’s all the time it took for him to fracture his C5 and C6 vertebrae.

It didn’t take his mother, Micki, much longer to realize that they had no idea where to turn or what to do next. Continue Reading »

Advocates for disabled people and critics of Michigan’s generally lax enforcement of handicap parking laws say the problem starts with doctors.

“They’re the ones handing out the placards, and I do feel it is being abused,” said Erica Coulston, president of Walk the Line to SCI (spinal cord injury) Recovery.

“There are no repercussions for physicians,” said Coulston, who uses a wheelchair. “They should be trusted to take these placards very seriously and assign them accordingly. It’s just gotten out of hand.” Continue Reading »

The Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America- Novi annual membership picnic Saturday was no ordinary picnic.

This year’s picnic came with an added bonus as members were able to utilize the completely wheelchair accessible Miracle League of Plymouth baseball field.

Nearly 75 MPVA members come out ready to “play ball.” The event was free and it is just one of the many functions that the MPVA offers its membership, individuals with spinal cord injuries or disease, to gather together and build fellowship. Continue Reading »

MayWeHelp.org

We are a nonprofit organization comprised of skilled volunteers gathered together to create customized devices and adaptations for people with specific needs at no cost to them.

We connect individuals with specific needs to skilled volunteers who can invent, modify or adapt devices that can free that individual to pursue their passions and improve their quality of life.

We are handymen, artists, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, programmers, techies, motorheads, students, snow birds, friends. Continue Reading »

The wireless device is helping tetraplegic study participants learn songs on a keyboard while improving sensation in their hands.

A wireless musical glove developed at Georgia Tech not only teaches users to play songs on the piano, but may also improve the sensation and mobility of the hands of people who have suffered spinal cord injuries, researchers report. Continue Reading »

Protocol may open new avenues for cell-replacement therapies for neurological conditions

LA JOLLA, CA—For more than 20 years, doctors have been using cells from blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after childbirth to treat a variety of illnesses, from cancer and immune disorders to blood and metabolic diseases.

Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found a new way-using a single protein, known as a transcription factor-to convert cord blood (CB) cells into neuron-like cells that may prove valuable for the treatment of a wide range of neurological conditions, including stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. Continue Reading »

When Steve Brown broke his neck it was wheelchair rugby that spurred him on to recovery. Now he’s captain of the sport’s GB Paralympic team

In April 2005, my life was turned upside down. While working as a tree surgeon, I fell from a tree and broke my spine. The effects of this injury were instant and permanent. My spinal cord was severely damaged just below the 12th vertebra, leaving me paralysed from the waist down. I was 36 years old. Continue Reading »

With the ultimate goal of accelerating the discovery of drugs to regenerate or protect nerves after spinal cord injury, Miller School researchers have received a $2.5 million grant to develop a novel database to enable neuroscientists to search the voluminous and growing number of studies related to nervous system repair, and link relevant data from those studies to other resources. Continue Reading »