Paralyzed Boy Walks Again

Chase Ford’s life changed forever on June 4, 2005.

He fell and hit the back of his head on the wooden arm of a couch at a baby sitter’s, and within days he was paralyzed, unable to move due to a spinal cord injury.

“How can you tell a child who is active that he will not be active again based on what the doctors have told you?” said his mother, Renee.

In stepped researchers from the University of Louisville and Frazier Rehab.

With funding from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and support from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, some 25 doctors and physical therapists have used repetitive activity to redesign Chase’s nervous system, allowing him to walk. Continue Reading »

Kelly Brush- Skiing with a purpose

It would be understandable if Kelly Brush filled her days with what-ifs.

What if the fencing along the giant slalom course at Jiminy Peak had been better? What if the padding on the chair lift tower had been thicker? What if she hadn’t caught that edge?

But those questions don’t yield any substantive answers. They are part of a past that Brush, a senior at Middlebury College who was paralyzed in a ski racing accident two years ago, doesn’t see the need to dwell in.

Instead, Brush is focused on the future — her own and that of the sport she loves. Through the Kelly Brush Foundation, the 21-year-old is seeking to improve safety conditions and safety awareness in ski racing. Continue Reading »

Fitness Is Important If You Have A Spinal Cord Injury

Being fit means being trim, energized, and confident and this is still important for someone with spinal cord injury.

A fitness program for a spinal cord injury patient can provide strength, education, confidence, and conditioning of mind and body thereby increasing one’s flexibility, cardiovascular, and strength. With all these goals in mind, a person can improve his or her Functional mobility and daily activities and even return to his or her recreational sports or hobbies. Continue Reading »

Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Awards Nearly $2 Million in Individual Research Grants

Foundation Continues Research Initiatives in Search of a Cure and Therapies for Paralysis

SHORT HILLS, N.J., Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ — The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (CDRF), which is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy, today announced it has awarded $1,996,745 million to 16 laboratories through its Individual Research Grants Program. At the forefront of molecular and cellular studies, CDRF’s Individual Research Grant Program is the Foundation’s largest, most comprehensive research initiative. The grants awarded today represent an overall $77 million commitment to research by the Foundation since 1982. Continue Reading »

After Spinal Cord Injury, Ohio State Program Gives Hope

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An innovative training device being used at The Ohio State University Medical Center may lead to improved mobility and quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries.

Physicians are looking at the use of bodyweight support and treadmill therapy, known as locomotor training, to help patients improve various skills after suffering incomplete paralysis. The unique therapy, often associated with the Rehabilitation regimen used by the late actor Christopher Reeve, is only available at a handful of hospitals around the country.

Michele Basso, director of OSU Medical Center’s neurorecovery network, has been studying spinal injury and looking at cellular responses in a laboratory setting. She feels the therapy will be beneficial. Continue Reading »

Medical Marvel

Doctors can’t explain why Pat Rummerfield is able to run marathons and race cars. Even so, there are scores of quadriplegics who long to follow in his footsteps.

WITH LITTLE FANFARE, Pat Rummerfield strides through the outpatient clinic at Kennedy Krieger Institute’s International Center for Spinal Cord Injury in Baltimore. He’s a non-physician making his rounds, checking on the quadriplegics and paraplegics who find inspiration in his every step.

He ducks into a side room where Robby Beckman is immersed in a tank of chest-high water. At the bottom of the tank is a wide rubber belt that scrolls like a treadmill. Thanks to the buoyant properties of the Hydro Track, Beckman can practice ambulating on his own. Keep those heels down. Don’t drag the toes on that right foot. It’s tough going, like wading through melted caramel. Continue Reading »

Quick action key with neck injuries

This is the second article in a three-part series about head and neck injuries in football and how prepared local sports programs are in preventing and responding to such injuries.

As loud as 70,000-plus screaming football fans can be, it’s the sound of silence that can be deafening. The roar of a home crowd is a cadence usually only interrupted when something goes wrong.

On Sept. 9, Ralph Wilson Stadium had 73,967 people watching the Buffalo Bills play host to the Denver Broncos in the opening Sunday of this year’s NFL season.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the game became a secondary concern as Bills’ tight end Kevin Everett lay still on the turf. Continue Reading »

This is about finding cures, not cloning humans

AS I SEE IT: This is about finding cures, not cloning humans

I am a bit perplexed as to who Cures Without Cloning is actually representing.

Missourians have already banned the cloning of human beings. They did this by voting yes on the stem cell amendment last November. Our state constitution now makes it a felony crime to even attempt to clone a human being, while ensuring that federally approved stem cell research can be pursued within strict, ethical boundaries. Continue Reading »

Brain or Spinal Injury Linked to Increased Bankruptcy Rates

Newswise — In addition to neurological damage and Disability, survivors of brain or spinal cord injury may face financial disaster, with increased rates of bankruptcy in the years after injury, reports a study in the August issue of Medical Care, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, part of Wolters Kluwer Health, provider of leading healthcare content, context and consulting.

William Hollingworth, PhD, of Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center at University of Washington, Seattle, identified 6,345 adult residents of western Washington State who were hospitalized with brain or spinal cord injuries from 1991 to 2002. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Records were reviewed to assess how the injury affected the patients’ subsequent risk of bankruptcy. Continue Reading »

Recent injuries highlight hazards of the game

Heading into week four and putting a quarter of the regular season in the books for most teams, there have two major neck injuries in the NFL.

Buffalo Bills backup tight end Kevin Everett and Houston Texans defensive tackle Cedric Killings both suffered fractured Vertebrae. Everett was injured Sept. 9 and Killings on Sept. 23 after he collided with Indianapolis receiver Roy Hall.

“It was an unfortunate situation in Buffalo,” Houston coach Gary Kubiak said. “It was so difficult to deal with. For a moment there we were staring at a very difficult situation ourselves. We are just fortunate that our man came out OK.” Continue Reading »