Still playing to win

Eyes, not hands, now guide the work of wheelchair-bound vascular surgeon in Greenville

GREENVILLE — Glancing at a U.S. Open doubles tennis match on a big-screen TV in his ranch house, Dr. Bruce Fellows’ eyes sometimes dart back and forth between the bouncing, fuzzy green ball and the players’ quick-footed steps.

Martina Navratilova makes a winning point, but there is no “yeah, baby” clenched fist from Fellows. 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 »

Mount Sinai

The Mount Sinai Spinal Cord Injury Model System (MS-SCI-MS) provides comprehensive care to meet the diverse needs of persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). Components of this care include treatment at the scene of the accident, acute medical and surgical care, comprehensive inpatient and outpatient Rehabilitation, and facilitation of community reintegration.

The MS-SCI-MS is one of sixteen Model Systems for care of persons with SCI funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, US Department of Education (grant #H133N000027). It is the only such funded Model System in New York State. 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 »

Barbara McKee: Walking can wait

To buoy up the spirits of the Disability community, scientists have dragged out the rats again.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins released a report of 15 rats that were paralyzed and given stem cells to test for a cure of spinal-cord injuries. Twelve of the 15 walked sufficiently get on the news – again.

This testing of paralysis cures on rats and other rodents has been going on for over a decade. Continue Reading »

Begnaud rehab expected to take 4-8 weeks

ATLANTA — Rusty Begnaud can expect between four to eight weeks of Rehabilitation at the Shepherd Center once he is stabilized and he is released from the catastrophic care hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

Begnaud, 25, was admitted to the Shepherd Center’s ICU for evaluation, care and observation on Monday when he was flown from Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, Fla., where he had been since fracturing his spinal column on June 20 after mistakenly diving into the shallow end of a swimming pool. Continue Reading »

Basile Reaches Further Ahead

It will be two years ago this August that Josh Basile’s life took an irreversible turn on the shores of Bethany Beach, Del. Until that day, Basile, a graduate of the Bullis School and a star tennis player on Skidmore College’s varsity tennis team, was an active and engaged young man who had not yet grappled with major adversity. Continue Reading »

Hundreds walk, wheel for cause

The parking lot behind the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre in Halifax bustled with activity Sunday afternoon, as people prepared to run, walk and wheel for a good cause.

Michael and Alvina LeBlanc decided to participate in the weekend event because they wanted to give something back to the Rick Hansen Man In Motion Foundation. Continue Reading »

RESPIRATORY TREATMENTS WITH A NEBULIZER

If respiratory medication needs to be delivered directly to the lungs, this can be accomplished with a nebulizer, if prescribed by your physician. Indications for this treatment are:

* Tightness in chest
* Increased or thick secretions
* Pneumonia (congestion) and/or
* Atelectasis Continue Reading »