Several hundred people, including two groups of recent police recruits, are walking and running this morning to help a stricken fellow officer.

The John Pou Race/Walk and Fun Run started under sunny skies and muggy conditions at 8 a.m. today at the Somerset community clubhouse, off Tom Short Road near Marvin in southwestern Union County.

The event was a fund raiser for Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer John Pou and his family.

MINNEAPOLIS - A Lakeville man underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his bruised spinal cord at Hennepin County Medical Center after he was injured during an accident at the Water Park of America in Bloomington.

Tommy Lee, 39, had two titanium screws and a plate installed in his neck Wednesday to stabilize crushed vertebrae and relieve pressure from his spinal cord, a Hennepin County Medical Center spokeswoman said.

If the bone had moved any closer to the cord, Lee could have been paralyzed, said his brother-in-law, Louis Lau.

KVB manufacturing builds lifts; Elaine Wolfe's father, Cliff, designed device after accident left daughter in wheelchair

Elaine Wolfe was 18 when she broke her neck in a swimming accident.

The spinal cord injury meant she'd never walk again, and would have no use of her hands and only minimal use of her arms. What it didn't mean is that she would never go to school, travel or lead an independent life.

Her husband, Jim Phillips, and their pre-teen and teenaged daughters can attest to this: Mom's had her own wheels since the girls were born. Her most recent vehicle is the 2004 Chevrolet Suburban parked in their driveway.

OCALA, Fla. - Ronald Schultz started writing his new book almost 40 years ago, when he thought his life was over.

He was 22 years old, had a good job in a western New York factory and a couple years of college under his belt. He lost it all on a long, icy curve as his '63 Rambler spun out and overturned. It was too dark to see anything, but Schultz knew something was wrong.

"It was a feeling of just nothingness - like I couldn't feel my body at all," he says.

14-year-old Richland girl recovering from spinal cord injury after tumbling accident

The parents of a Richland teenager hurt in a gymnastics accident spoke yesterday of their hopes for her recovery from a spinal cord injury.

"We're praying and we're optimistic that she will walk again," said Claire Senita's mother, Emily.

Claire, who is in the eighth grade at Pine-Richland Middle School, was performing a gymnastics maneuver May 9 at Trinity Gymnastics, formerly Northland Sports Training Center, when she was injured.

When Bill Cawley works out in a shirt and tie, he draws a lot of stares.

The wheelchair likely has something to do with it, too. But the business attire seems completely out of place. That is, until you learn that Cawley doesn't sweat, the result of a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He doesn't need to change his shirt after exercising, so he can go straight to work in the mornings.

In the 14 years since his injury, Cawley, 37, has learned how important it is to smile in the face of adversity. He jokingly refers to his inactive sweat glands as one of the "fringe benefits" of having your spinal cord broken from the neck down.