Modified van, Marine mindset carry injured vet into a new chapter of life

FREDERICK — An injury during his service in Iraq three years ago left Marine Sgt. Jason Wittling many things — a quadriplegic, competitor, interviewee, even a self-proclaimed “cripple” — but, he says, a bitter Marine he isn’t.

A sense of humor and help from a customized van have opened a new chapter in Sgt. Wittling’s life. The 32-year-old from Mason, Wis., received a wheelchair lift-equipped van in September from Rhode Island-based Operation Support Our Troops. Continue Reading »

Temperance Crash Victim Defies Long Odds; Gives Thanks As She Strives to Overcome Spinal Injury

Cortney Hoffman is walking.

In 2002, when she was 16, she rolled her car. She woke up staring at a perfect summer sky, wondering why she didn’t just stand, walk to the road, and call for help.

After a frantic Life Flight ride, with the confused Temperance girl asking attendants, “Why? Why? Why? Why?” and begging for a window seat, she learned her spine was crushed. She will never walk again, she was told, never regain the use of her hands, never recruit the voluntary cooperation of her bladder. Continue Reading »

Quadriplegic prepares for NYC marathon

Scott Rimmer refuses to let being a quadriplegic stop him from achieving new goals.

In 2003, a dirt bike accident in Moab, Utah, left him with a broken neck, paralyzing spinal injuries and a desolate outlook on life. But on Sunday the 38-year-old Port Orange resident is competing in the 2006 ING New York City Marathon.

Just thinking about the challenge puts a smile on his face. The 1988 Spruce Creek High School graduate said he caught marathon fever when he competed in the Walt Disney World Marathon in January this year. Continue Reading »

Paralysis therapy snags award for Purdue

A Purdue Research Park company received acclaim for a device that will better treat paralysis caused by severe spinal cord injuries.

Neurotech Business Report awarded the Andara Oscillating Field Stimulator the Gold Electrode Award for best new product on Friday. The award was given at the Neurotech Leaders Forum in San Francisco by the publication which highlights advancements in the field of neurotechnology.

The device, which took over two decades to materialize, will treat injuries within three weeks after they occur, said Richard Borgens, director of the Center of Paralysis Research at Purdue’s Institute for Applied Neurology. Continue Reading »

Union players face quadriplegic threat

Rugby union players are four times more likely to wind up as quadriplegics than their rugby league counterparts, new research shows.

A study by Adelaide’s Flinders University Research Centre for Injury Studies analysed severe spinal cord injuries among players of both codes in NSW between 1986 and 2005.

Researchers found 61 cases of Quadriplegia as a result of catastrophic neck injuries – 36 from union and 25 from league. Continue Reading »

Finally, Buoniconti, Citadel reconcile

MIAMI — Marc Buoniconti’s spinal cord was crushed on a college football field nearly 21 years ago. His relationship with the Citadel was severed for almost as long. If asked years ago which would be mended first, he says he would have guessed wrong.

“I thought we’d cure paralysis first,” he says. “Not because I didn’t want to” restore school ties. “I just never saw it happening.” Continue Reading »

Boca quadriplegic fights to walk again

Kevin Mullin’s life changed forever October 6, 2003.

At 24, Mullin of Boca Raton was an athletic swimmer and scuba diver who landed a job at a pharmaceutical staffing company two months prior to that fateful day.

But everything changed when a trip to a Boca beach with his sister and niece ended in a near death experience and a diagnosis of Quadriplegia. Continue Reading »

Learning a new routine

Injured Tucson gymnast endures Rehabilitation in Colorado, where he begins to heal and adapts to life as a quadriplegic

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Drew Donnellan reaches his lips to the plastic straw sticking out of his motorized wheelchair.

He puffs hard once, and his chair edges forward. A soft puff turns right, a soft sip left. A hard sip jolts him backward. Continue Reading »

Disabled People ‘Left Behind’ in Emergency Planning

During Hurricane Katrina, Benilda Caixeta, a New Orleans resident with Quadriplegia, tried for two days to seek refuge at the Superdome. Despite repeated phone calls to authorities, help never arrived for Caixeta. Days later, she was found dead in her apartment, floating next to her wheelchair.

“Benilda need not have drowned,” testified Marcie Roth before the US House of Representatives Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus in November 2005. Roth, executive director of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, had personally placed calls to prompt Caixeta’s evacuation. Continue Reading »

QUADRIPLEGIC MOM WALKS: After gymnastics move goes wrong, a remarkable recovery

RANDOLPH – As a child, Diane Niles loved doing cartwheels. She found them easy – up and over. So when her 12-year-old daughter, Ashley, was practicing the gymnastics maneuver for cheerleading, Niles said, ‘‘Here, I’ll show you how.’’

On the front lawn of their Randolph home, Niles did a handstand, swung her legs over her head and collapsed on her face, landing hard on her stomach.

‘‘I’ve done hundreds of them, but something happened that day with my wrists – they gave out,’’ she recalled. Continue Reading »