Crash survivor learning to breathe on his own

ROY — Braden Howe tells jokes, surfs the Internet and makes goo-goo eyes at his nephew, Carter, who squirms and giggles at his uncle’s attention.

But making goo-goo eyes is about all that Braden can do since the accident 10 years ago. Dandling his 6-month old nephew on his knee, for example, is out of the question.

Remember Christopher Reeve, the movie star? Braden has that exact kind of injury. Reeve broke his neck on a horse, Braden on a bicycle, but the result was the same: total paralysis from the neck down. Continue Reading »

Augie swimmer survives broken neck

In watching Ramsey Vens dive off the starting blocks at Augustana College in preparation for the CCIW championship now under way, it’s hard to tell that just seven months ago she shattered two Vertebrae in her neck.

The only sign that the former state-qualifying Pleasant Valley swimmer-turned Division III national competitor is lucky to be able to get in the pool, much less compete, is a tattoo on her right ankle of angel wings and the phrase “Miracles happen.” Continue Reading »

Minister severely injured in swimming accident

GRAND RAPIDS — Josh Buck, pastor at Greenhouse Ministries in Grand Rapids, was one hour into a Cancun vacation with his wife and another couple from the church when he decided to go swimming in the ocean.

Lured into the surf by huge, churning waves, Buck porpoised through the water.

Family members believe the 30-year-old struck his head on a submerged rock, broke his neck and nearly drowned. Continue Reading »

Hope, a dream and pressing on

Layton teacher heads to China for new umbilical cord stem cell transplant

LAYTON — Kirk Green makes his way through the halls of E.G. King Elementary School in Layton, pushing with leather-gloved hands the large wheels that make his wheelchair move forward.

Many of the children he passes greet him with a large smile and a shout of “Hola” as their Spanish teacher rolls by.

The 23-year-old Green remains hopeful one day he will be able to walk down the halls of the school. Continue Reading »

Back on her feet

This time last year, Gianna Cotroneo was in a wheelchair, her back in a brace and on the mend after a sledding crash fractured part of her spine.

This time last year, doctors had told the Woodbury teenager she had a slim chance of walking again — and even if she was able to, it could take up to two years, maybe more.

What a difference a year — and simple determination — makes. By early December, the most visible sign the 16-year-old had been hurt was her left foot dragging when she walked. Her progress has stunned her doctors. Continue Reading »

Life is good after brush with death

With the wounded toll topping homicides, some survivors are gaining insight that makes them whole in a new way

Cheating death can make you see life a whole new way.

That’s what happened to Ronnie “Henneessy” Jackson. In 2003, gunmen using AK-47 and Mac-90 automatic rifles fired 50 rounds into his parked van in East Oakland. He was struck 11 times, briefly flatlined in surgery, then endured 10 operations and spent nearly three years paralyzed from the neck down. Continue Reading »

Risk vs. hope: Heading overseas for stem cells

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – David Aldrich, 49, was paralyzed in a boating accident more than four years ago, and had made his wishes known. If he were hospitalized again and in a near-death situation, he did not want to be resuscitated.

He thought there was no hope he would walk again.

But with his family’s prodding and financial backing, the former licensed boat captain from Florida traveled to China, where doctors are treating people with spinal cord injuries and other conditions with stem cells obtained from umbilical cord blood. Out-of-pocket costs are high – $20,000 to $25,000 on average. Continue Reading »

A ‘Miracle’ In Tennessee

A ‘Miracle’ In Tennessee: Charlene Caswell Transforms Herself From Quadriplegic to Hiker, With Help from The Hartford

Walking away from a seemingly permanent Disability requires tenacity, excellent care and a talented, committed insurance team

HARTFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Charlene Caswell’s life changed abruptly on a snowy day last February after the truck in which she was riding flipped over, fracturing her Cervical spine and injuring her spinal cord. Continue Reading »

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 »

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 »