Spinal Injury Cures: Balancing Hope And Expectation

Reports of paralysed animals walking again can give unrealistic hopes to people with spinal injuries. What is more important is that they develop the skills and perspective to get on with their lives

A recent breakthrough in regenerative medicine saw paraplegic dogs regaining some function in their back legs: inevitably, the headlines talked of hope for human patients with spinal cord injury.

But the head of clinical psychology at the National Spinal Injuries Centre, Professor Paul Kennedy, argues that this kind of “magic bullet” reporting can be damaging to people who are coming to terms with a life-changing injury. Continue Reading »

Beyond The Chair

Beyond The Chair exists to provide an improved quality of life for individuals with spinal cord injuries and other neurological disabilities through intensive exercise programs to enhance overall functional capacity.

Leeds war victim is bionic marvel

War veteran Adam Douglas has become a Bionic Man in his battle to recover from horrific injury.

The 43-year-old suffered horrendous spinal damage after he was blown up by a rock-propelled grenade.

He was one of the first casualties of the 2003 Iraq war and spent nine months in hospital being treated for a double back fracture and spinal cord injury.

Adam, from Fearnville, Leeds, had to use walking sticks and was unable to control his bladder or bowel.

But now a £20,000 operation to have electrodes surgically implanted into his tailbone – attached to two pace-makers hidden under skin in his lower back – has given him his dignity back. Continue Reading »

How I Roll

This blog is designed to help anyone newly paralyzed and permanently confined to a manual wheelchair.

 

Small change makes a big difference

While eyeglasses can be an inconvenience, they can be limiting for people like Dan Larsen, who has been paralyzed for 11 years.

Vanity, expense and convenience drive people to laser vision correction surgery. Necessity is what motivated Dan Larsen.

The 27-year-old Middletown man is paralyzed from the shoulders down. He has limited use of his arms, but no use of his hands or fingers. Continue Reading »

Wheelchair basketball rekindles competitive spirit

For Sherrod Nelson, the opportunity to play basketball again in a group setting with others has been rewarding. Nelson is one of the members of the Spinal Cord Injury Support Group who has endured a life-changing experience.

“This is a way of getting out of the house,” said Nelson, who participates on a wheelchair basketball team twice a week at the Village Multipurpose Center in Sunrise. “Most of us were very competitive when we were able-bodied, so this can fulfill some of our dreams again.”

To Nelson, something is always better than nothing. Continue Reading »

Monkey Business in Concord

How a Capuchin monkey aids the life of a 27-year-old Concord man and his big family.

Ned Sullivan is taking it one day at a time these days. He’s living at home with his brothers and sisters, dogs, parents, and Kasey, his service monkey.

Sullivan’s mother, Ellen Rogers, spoke at the Concord Bookshop on Sunday about the journey from Ned’s horrifying car accident in Arizona to maintaining a mostly normal life with the help of Kasey who was donated to the family by Helping Hands, a Boston nonprofit. Continue Reading »

Michigan Spinal Cord Injury Association to Build Ramp to Help Mother of 7 Trapped in her House

The Michigan Spinal Cord Injury Association (MSCIA) has chosen to utilize donation money from their first major event to assist a woman in Detroit, who has not been able to leave her house in over a year except by ambulance to visit her doctor. Continue Reading »

Guide to Best Apps for People Living with Paralysis

Apps designed for SmartPhones (Blackberry, Iphone, Android) and IPads can help increase independence and improve the quality of life for people who have limited mobility from paralysis. These apps can be powerful tools for people living with a spinal cord injury or using a wheelchair due to another injury or disease. The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation have created the Guide to the Best Apps for People Living with Paralysis to help people find those apps that will most enhance their lives. Continue Reading »

Covington man first to get new procedure

The first patient to undergo an adult stem cell procedure that may help spinal cord injury patients regain function had an injection Thursday that may change the course of medical history.

Sitting in his den Thursday morning, surrounded by pictures of Dr. John, Matt Cole, the patient, was cool, calm and collected. His wife Kim was with him, and he answered questions for documentation of the medical procedure he was about to undertake – an injection of his stem cells into his spinal cord that may help him regain use of his lower body. Continue Reading »