Mendes injury recalls former player’s ‘life-altering’ accident

TORONTO — Randy Kells says he was fired like a torpedo head-first into the hockey rink boards, shattering his spine and severing his spinal cord.

“It was life-altering,” the 54-year-old Kells said of the accident which occurred in November 1988.

Then 29 years old, Kells jumped to avoid a collision between players. When he landed, his skate hit a rut and he skidded along the ice for 10 feet, colliding with the boards. Continue Reading »

Living with a spinal cord injury

There have been many breakthroughs in treatment and care over the last 25 years, and even more improvements in accessibility. But there’s still a long way to go

On a warm summer night in 1978 , Robb Dunfield and two friends climbed up into a house under construction near Jericho Beach to get a better view of the pillowy tall ships floating in the harbour.

They stepped out onto a balcony where the railing had not yet been built. Instead, there was merely a board tapped into place with a nail at either end.

It gave way quickly and Dunfield, then an athletic 19-year-old with a zest for adventure, plunged 30 feet into the darkness. Down, down he went, crashing into an abyss. In those few moments, his life changed irrevocably. Continue Reading »

A new way to banish bedsores

For 26 years, Stewart Midwinter had been paragliding, but last August after a leap from a Rocky Mountain peak west of Calgary, he encountered unusual turbulence that sent him careening into the mountainside.

His paragliding partner thought he was dead, but Mr. Midwinter was safely plucked from the backcountry and taken to a hospital where he has been ever since, wheelchair bound, able to move only one arm from the chest down. Continue Reading »

Building on progress and a vision for spinal cord injuries

Spinal cord injury is one of the world’s major unsolved health-care challenges, affecting not only the individuals who live with it but also their families. It requires specialized treatment and long-term care, amounting to billions of dollars annually in Canada. As Tracy’s story illustrates, once surgery and rehabilitation are complete, the challenges faced can be relentless – from painful secondary health complications to multiple barriers to reintegration. Continue Reading »

‘It’s all about attitude’

AUSTRALIAN hand cycling champion Michael Taylor is on track to represent his country at the London Paralympics next year.

If named in the Australian squad it will be a massive achievement for the Bendigo sportsman, who is paralysed from the chest down after a motorcycle accident eight years ago.

Before his accident Michael loved getting on his bike, and he saw no reason for that to change when his legs stopped working.

“I’m still the same, but instead of being six foot one, I’m four foot nothing,” he laughed. Continue Reading »

Spinal cord injuries associated with increased risk of heart disease

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 »

Spinal cord breakthrough with acne drug

University of Calgary researchers working on a spinal cord injury treatment are getting some help from the Man in Motion.

The Rick Hansen Institute is helping to fund work on an old drug that shows new promise treating spinal cord injuries (SCI).

Dr. John Hurlbert, along with co-investigators Dr. Steven Casha and Dr. Voon Wee Yong have found that minocycline — originally used to treat acne — helps restore movement in patients suffering from SCI.

“We looked at this drug in a mouse model and the results were fascinating,” Hurlbert said. Continue Reading »