‘Exciting times’ for spinal cord research

Thank you Prime Minister Stephen Harper! Thank you Rick Hansen! Thank you Tony Clement and Steven Fletcher! Thank you, thank you and thank you. Finally someone gets it!

A wise person once said that to know where you’re going, you have to look at where you’ve been. Spinal cord injuries were only endured during the Second World War when better antibiotics and medical care meant secondary complications of paralysis could become survivable. Since that time, people afflicted with paralysis were in a homeostatic state for more than 50 years. Lumped with all disabled people and considered invalids or shut-ins until the ’60s, we have come a long way from institutions and forced sterilization to access to medical care and quality of life issues and to the final holy grail — the cure. You’re right Celine, these are exciting times. Continue Reading »

Surgery seen to aid bladder control

WASHINGTON – Needing a wheelchair isn’t always the biggest complaint of people left paralyzed by spinal cord injury — it’s also the loss of bladder control. On Monday, Michigan doctors began a unique experiment to see if rerouting patients’ nerves just might fix that problem.

It’s a delicate operation: Surgeons cut open a spot on the spine and sew two normally unrelated nerves together — one from the bladder to one from the thigh — with a single hair-thin stitch. It will take months for this new nerve bridge to heal, an anxious waiting period for the first volunteers. Continue Reading »

Artists come together to aid Terry Earp

Funny how the old adages often ring true. Like the one about tragedy bringing out the best in people.

In the two months since Valley playwright and actress Terry Earp was hit by an SUV while she was riding her bicycle in north Phoenix — an accident that’s set her on a roller coaster of recovery, setbacks and early prognoses of quadri- or Paraplegia — fellow artists and friends have come out of the woodwork in support.

Some, like poet and songwriter Rod McKuen and folk musician Barry McGuire, have never met her. Never knew about her reputation here and outside the Valley as a playwright of historical dramas and Western monologues performed by herself and husband Wyatt Earp, nephew of the legendary lawman. Continue Reading »

Here’s what works to prevent bedsores

Q: My father developed some serious bedsores while he was in the hospital after surgery. Why do bedsores occur, and can they be prevented?

A: Bedsores can be painful, and sometimes even deadly. Two-thirds of all bedsores occur in people over the age of 70, mainly because older people are more likely to have health problems that put them at risk. People with spinal cord injuries are also likely to develop bedsores because of the time they spend in one position. When Christopher Reeve, the actor who was paralyzed in a horseback riding accident, died in 2004, news accounts said he died from a bedsore-related infection. Continue Reading »

D-Mannose Stopped my Antibiotic Resistant Urine Infections

Hi Everyone I hope this article helps you as much as it’s helped me.

My name is Jason I live in the Uk and have suffered with severe urine infections for over 16yrs.

My condition is a spinal cord injury patient due to a road traffic accident 16yrs ago and I have suffered immensely with these retched urine infections ever since. I’ve tried various methods to stop these infections from drinking 10 pints of water daily to taking cranberry juice and tablets and nothing could stop these horrible infections but antibiotics. Continue Reading »

Inside Out | Grateful for an infection? In a way, yes

I knew there was no cure for my paralysis. Nor was there any hope for my baldness. But this was an infectious-disease doctor on the other end of the line, and he was calling me about my Urinary Tract Infection. We had always cured them in the past, and even though this one seemed much more difficult than the others, I assumed we would resolve this one too.

So I was pretty shaken when he said: “I don’t think we can cure this one, Dan.” Continue Reading »

cotton to the core Jim MacLaren

When ex-football and lacrosse star Jim MacLaren graduated from Yale a little more than 20 years ago, he thought life’s plan for him was to become an actor, a dream he maintained even after he lost a leg getting hit by a bus in New York City. Neither did the accident prevent him from becoming a successful triathlete. But while competing in Southern California in 1993, he was struck by a van, breaking his neck and making him a quadriplegic. After a bout with Depression, MacLaren realized his true calling. He has spent the past 10 years working as a motivational speaker, inspiring others to overcome their perceived problems. Last year, he won the Arthur Ashe ESPY award for courage, an honor presented by Oprah Winfrey. Recently, MacLaren, who’s still acting in addition to running a philanthropic foundation, slowed down long enough for a chat.

Anthony Cotton: How are you these days? Continue Reading »

Aggressive heart pacing may work best in some spinal cord patients

Patients with recurring problems with the heart slowing or stopping after a neck injury damages their Cervical spinal cord may need aggressive therapy to avoid further cardiovascular problems and even death, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.

A study subset of newly injured quadriplegics showed that less aggressive therapies, such as drugs and a pacemaker placed on top of the chest, simply were not sufficient, says Dr. Andres F. Ruiz-Arango, cardiology fellow and corresponding author of the article in the July/August issue of Cardiology in Review. Continue Reading »

Scientists bridge’ spinal injury nerve gap

Like linemen stringing an electric cable over a gorge, a research team co-directed by a Cleveland scientist has devised a way to coax nerve fibers to grow a “bridge” across gaps in rats’ damaged spinal cords.

The new technique, reported today in the Journal of Neuroscience, successfully re-established some neural connections and restored a “considerable” amount of movement in five of seven partially paralyzed rats, according to the researchers. Continue Reading »

A cure ‘will come’ for paralysing spinal injuries

An American spinal injury expert has been updating Bermuda medics on the latest developments in the care and Rehabilitation of patients who have suffered debilitating injuries to their spines. Dr. Kevin O’Connor, medical director of the spinal cord injury programme at Boston’s Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, also met with health insurance professionals on the Island. A handful of patients from Bermuda end up at the Boston hospital each year to receive specialist treatment. Continue Reading »