Love Survives

Rick and Angel Young were married at Royal Victoria Hospital.

With a pen held in his teeth, Rick Young carefully marked an X on his marriage certificate.

It was a struggle.

He had to try twice.

But it was important.

As a quadriplegic, there are many things Rick cannot do on his own – breathe, eat, move – but professing his love for his childhood sweetheart was one thing he had to do.

And so, on Nov. 4, among family, friends, a respiratory therapist, a doctor, several CCU nurses and hospital staff, Angel Robinson, 25, and Rick Young, 26, exchanged their wedding vows in the Garden Patio of Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie. Continue Reading »

Ask Patty Supports United Spinal Association With Online Fundraiser

AskPatty.com, Inc. is supporting United Spinal Association in an online holiday fundraiser during the month of December.

New York, NY (PRWeb) December 14, 2006 – AskPatty.com, Inc. announced today they will be supporting United Spinal Association in an online-based holiday fundraising effort during the month of December. The mission of United Spinal is to provide expertise, create access to resources and strengthen hope, thereby enabling people with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D) to fulfill their potential as active members of their communities.

Ask Patty has made a yearlong commitment to support United Spinal Association through donations, publicity, and partnerships. United Spinal not only supports people with spinal cord injuries and disorders in their everyday lives, but also created a Motorsports program: Living Life in Motion. Continue Reading »

More room for rehab

Frazier tower nearly done; new programs draw patients

Jen Boisvert, clad in black exercise clothes, went through some stretches in a sixth-floor gym at Frazier Rehab Institute’s downtown tower, part of a program to help her regain leg movement after a spinal-cord injury.

Not so long ago, the gym — and the sixth floor itself — weren’t there. They were added in a $93 million expansion that is just being completed. Continue Reading »

Out of harm’s way

Teens learned a vital lesson during Spinal Cord Inury Awareness Week.

The idea was to educate teens about the dangers of accidents that can lead to paralyzing injuries.

Message received, said Western High School student Ali Bruns.

”People get in rushes and they don’t put seat belts on,” the 16-year-old Davie girl said. “When I am around people, I will definitely make sure they are wearing their seat belt.” Continue Reading »

Thanks, Superman! Paralyzed 3-Year-Old Learns to Walk Again

A 3-year-old paralyzed Kentucky boy learned to walk again after trying a therapy that was financed by the Christopher Reeve Foundation’s Neuro-Recovery Network.

The image is forever ingrained in our memory: “Superman” actor Christopher Reeve, suspended over a treadmill. He was one of the first to try this radical new therapy known as locomotor training, developed by Dr. Susan Harkema, professor of neurosurgery at the Kentucky Spinal Injury Research Center.

“The spinal cord itself has a great capacity to learn, to remember, to forget and to make decisions,” Harkema said. “And the spinal cord can do that even when it’s disconnected from the brain.” Continue Reading »

Hope for a cure found in embryonic stem cell research

Michael J. Fox‘s successful acting career might soon be upstaged by his success as a lobbyist – his stumping for stem cell research in last month’s election turned the tide in favor of the controversial legislation in several states across America.

Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, is putting hope for a cure in medical research using embryonic stem cells.

But the issue is laden in debate. Continue Reading »

Committee Review Of Stem-Cell Fraud Finds Editors Followed All Rules

In handling fraudulent stem-cell research articles, journal editors went above and beyond existing procedures to try and verify the findings, but in today’s competitive publishing Environment, more stringent, less trusting safeguards are now essential, an independent committee has concluded.

Although editors at the journal Science “made a serious effort – substantially greater than that for most papers” to scrutinize research submitted by Woo Suk Hwang, the committee found, “the cachet of publishing in Science can be an incentive not to follow the rules.” Continue Reading »

Rugby injury research project

Cape Town – The Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, in collaboration with the Chris Burger/Petro Jackson Players’ Fund, has launched a research project that aims to establish an accurate database of rugby-related spinal cord injuries in South Africa.

A Rugby Safety Indaba held in Cape Town recently concluded that existing data on the serious spinal cord injuries in the game was incomplete due to the lack of a proper injury reporting system. It was agreed that further research was required to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the data. Continue Reading »

Researchers Discover Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury Pain

ST. PAUL, MN — November 28, 2006 — Spinal cord injury patients with moderate to severe nerve pain experienced less pain and in some cases no pain while taking the drug pregabalin, according to a study published in the November 28, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“The findings are promising as spinal cord injury pain is a condition which generally responds poorly to currently available treatments,” said study author Philip J. Siddall, MBBS, PhD, with Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia. Continue Reading »

Researchers discover treatment for spinal cord injury pain

ST. PAUL, Minn – Spinal cord injury patients with moderate to severe nerve pain experienced less pain and in some cases no pain while taking the drug pregabalin, according to a study published in the November 28, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“The findings are promising as spinal cord injury pain is a condition which generally responds poorly to currently available treatments,” said study author Philip J. Siddall, MBBS, PhD, with Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia. Continue Reading »