Twenty-five years after the historic Rick Hansen Man in Motion World Tour to raise awareness about spinal cord injury research, accessibility and inclusivity, Canadians vastly underestimate the costs of treating and caring for people with spinal cord injury and other chronic illnesses that result in paralysis, according to a wide-raging survey conducted for The Rick Hansen Institute by Angus Reid Public Opinion. Continue Reading »

On Wednesday, US researchers announced they are testing a new drug in dogs that has already proven effective in mice. The drug is designed to substantially reduce the hind limb paralysis that follows certain spinal cord injuries. There are currently no therapies that can do this. The researchers suggest if the drug succeeds in dogs, it could also work in humans. Continue Reading »

Former Mater Dei baseball player Cory Hahn, who was paralyzed during a college baseball game in February 2011, has returned to Arizona State University to resume his studies this semester. He will come back to Orange County for the first Trinity Bat Company Home Run Challenge, a Cory Hahn Fund charity event on Saturday at El Dorado High.

With every new day for Cory Hahn comes another challenge and another triumph, one that we won’t read about in the baseball box scores or newspaper sports pages that once chronicled the supreme talents of this former Mater Dei All-America outfielder and left-handed pitcher. Continue Reading »

Washington: Scientists have for the first time transformed stem cells from umbilical cords into other types of cells, which may have several therapeutic applications for spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, among other nervous system diseases.

The breakthrough could come as a favourable alternative to embryonic stem cells. Continue Reading »

FAIRBANKS – Grant Korgan of Nevada became the first adaptive athlete in history to reach the South Pole on Tuesday, a little over a month after coming to Fairbanks to train and test equipment.

Korgan, who is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of a snowmachine accident two years ago, used a a sit-ski to push his way 75 miles to the pole in 11 days.

Korgan, 33, was accompanied by Antarctica guide Doug Stoup, Tal Fletcher and a three-person production crew who filmed the expedition. Continue Reading »

Spinal-cord injuries, such as those suffered recently by two Minnesota high school hockey players, are rare but more likely to occur among teenagers.

Spinal-cord injuries, such as those suffered recently by two Minnesota high school hockey players, are rare but more likely to occur among teenagers.

Between 1993 and 2011, about 60 Minnesota high school athletes were treated in hospitals for varying degrees of spinal-cord injuries. Among victims of sports-related spinal-cord injuries in Minnesota, about half were ages 14 to 19. Continue Reading »

“Stay clear of stem cell treatment for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI),” warned Professor Alan Mackay-Sim, Director of National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research in Australia. He visited the Mary Verghese Institute of Rehabilitation attached to Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore in early December 2011.

He is one of the world’s foremost authorities on this subject and the first to try olfactory ensheathing cells on humans with SCI. In an email interview, he explained to S. Vaidya Nathan the current state of stem cell research for treating people with spinal cord injury. Continue Reading »

BEIJING — The Health Ministry ordered unapproved stem cell treatments stopped Tuesday as China tries to bring under control its growing but loosely regulated industry.

The ministry stopped accepting applications for stem cell procedures until July and is implementing a yearlong campaign to halt unauthorized stem cell therapy trials. Continue Reading »

The 24-hour news cycle has affected all of us in different ways. For Jack Jablonski, I fear it has hijacked the time that could help him adjust to his new spinal-cord injury.

Eighteen years ago, as I put our sons on the bus for kindergarten, my husband, John, flipped off his bicycle and broke his neck at the fifth vertebrae. I was told of the permanent physical consequences of his spinal-cord injury.

John was given time to recover from surgery, to engage in physical therapy and to realize more gradually what having C5 quadriplegia would be like. Continue Reading »

MONROE — Keith Smith suffered a spinal cord injury and lost the use of his legs 20 years ago.

Today, he’s able to maneuver through the woods to hunt or go to the beach thanks to an all-terrain wheelchair designed by several Monroa-area entrepreneurs.

Smith is joined by his wife, Tammie, former state Rep. Charles McDonald, Don Brant and Ron Bush, who are partners of Freedom Mobility LLC, manufacturers of a new 6-by-6 all-terrain wheelchair. Continue Reading »