A father’s journey

Former Forest City resident remains hopeful for son’s full recovery

Craig Olson saw the time that his mother had called on that fateful September night and knew something wasn’t right.

It wasn’t. His son, Tyler, had suffered a spinal cord injury on the first play of a game between Lake Mills and Forest City. The date was Sept. 5. The time of the phone call was 8 p.m. And life had forever changed.

Craig Olson is a 1978 Forest City High School graduate who now lives in Omaha. His son, Tyler, is a junior at Lake Mills High School. Continue Reading »

Specialized therapy center is at the heart of foundation’s work

The Michael-Ryan Pattison Foundation, formerly A Cure is Coming, is the legacy of the inspirational effort of a healing community of friends who supported Woodinville resident Michael-Ryan Pattison and his family following his paralyzing injury in 2005. Pattison is convinced that the fact that he is alive today is directly related to his friends’ commitment.

He says, “I was graced to have a supportive community embrace me when this tragedy occurred, but there are many others who do not. The Michael-Ryan Pattison Foundation was created for them and it’s our mission to improve the quality of life for children and adults who become suddenly disabled, as I did.” Continue Reading »

3 with local ties inducted

Dr. James S. Krause, Harriet McBryde Johnson and Marc Buoniconti

Three of this year’s 19 inductees into the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame have Lowcountry connections.

Dr. James S. Krause, scientific director of the South Carolina Spinal Cord Injury Research Fund, was among those honored Monday. The research fund is financed through $100 surcharges attached to DUI convictions.

“I want people in South Carolina to feel good about what they’re doing,” Krause said of the state Legislature’s adoption of the fund seven years ago. Continue Reading »

P.L.A.Y-ing, not just for kids anymore

CLEMSON — It’s a day that many soldiers look forward to. A day where they’ve reached the end of their service time and are able to head home and fill the gap in the family that had been missing a parent, son, daughter or spouse. It’s a time when they can finally enjoy the comforts of home cooking, melt in a warm embrace and catch their breath because of hearty laughter, not because they’re in the middle of enemy fire.

For Jeff Snover, while on military leave from serving in Iraq, was soaking up time with his family and getting a head start on some work that needed to be done on his property in Tennessee. But, while clearing out an area on his land, a tree fell, trapping him and causing a spinal cord injury, paralyzing him from the waist down. Continue Reading »

Burris is living proof- LOST speaker tells Camdenton students to consider choices

Camden County, Mo. – It’s the simple things in life that frustrate him the most – changing a light bulb, visiting friends and running errands now have to be planned out.

Rusty Burris is a Paraplegic, bound to a wheel chair from a spinal cord injury.

Voted by his classmates at Macks Creek as Most Friendly, Burris was looking forward to the summer of 1990 until his life changed forever.

About one-minute away from home, he fell asleep behind the wheel and ran off the road. With no seat belt on, he was thrown from the car. Continue Reading »

Obama may reverse many Bush actions

WASHINGTON — Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition. Continue Reading »

Duo in 22-mile ‘crossing’ of English Channel

TWO women are swimming the width of the English Channel to raise money for a spinal cord injuries charity.

Fiona Conyers and Eleanor Coultish are among thousands of swimmers across the country who have embarked on an epic challenge to swim the 22-mile distance of the channel in their local swimming pools.

The Aspire Channel Swim, now in its ninth year, is the UK’s largest annual sponsored swimming event. Continue Reading »

Paralyzed former drag racer Gwynn still passionate about racing, fishing

Paralyzed champ stays busy running foundation, fishing tournaments

Weston – As a champion drag racer, Darrell Gwynn was unstoppable.

Despite a devastating accident during a 1990 test run that left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair, Gwynn hasn’t slowed down.

A National Hot Rod Association world champion with 28 NHRA national event victories and a member of the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, Gwynn also oversaw a successful race team. Continue Reading »

Two months after paralyzing spinal cord injury, Mason-Hale on the mend

Chris Mason-Hale vividly remembers the football play that changed his life. The scene rolls through his mind with the same detail as the action movies he watches on his portable DVD player at Kernan Hospital.

A senior linebacker for Western Tech in Catonsville, Mason-Hale went for a routine tackle in the final scrimmage of the preseason, Aug. 29 at Northeast.

“It was a dive,” Mason-Hale said of the common short-yardage play. “They gave the running back the ball, and he came through the one hole. I’m always the go-to guy because I’ll make the hit, and I went for the kill shot. That’s when you go outside him, but when I tried to hit him, he popped up and my head flew back.” Continue Reading »

Grandad’s broken spine tragedy

A GRANDAD died after six doctors at two hospitals failed to spot he had broken his spine.

Neville Caplan, 70, could have been saved if he’d had surgery in the three weeks before his death.

The retired pastry chef from Prestwich – described as ‘fit and healthy’ – fell while babysitting.

Four consultants and two radiologists at Wythenshawe Hospital and North Manchester General Hospital missed his injury until three weeks after the accident. Continue Reading »