After a five-week stay in a hospital in China to receive a series of five stem cell transplant injections, 23-year-old quadriplegic Kirk Green has returned home to Layton.

But the hard work has just begun for the man paralyzed from the chest down since a 2004 snowmobile accident.

"It is going to be interesting to see what happens in the months ahead," Green said.

For his determination and positive attitude, Simonson has been named Firefighter of the Year for 2007.

Simonson's cycling accident last April came seven years after he began as a firefighter in Milpitas. He was riding on a trail in Santa Cruz when he rode over a pothole that looked as if it had been filled. The sediment was still wet and his tire sank into the hole, sending him over the handlebars. He landed on his chin, with his head back, which injured his spinal cord. The extent of the injury is still unknown, and Simonson is giving paralysis a run for its money.

The Department of National Defence is working with the Canadian Paralympic Committee on a program called "Soldier On" to help members of the military who have been permanently injured in action or on the job to use sports to recover.

The program is still in its infancy and funding and other details are still being worked out. But there's hope that some of the soldiers involved in the program will choose to compete for Canada, perhaps at the 2008 or 2010 Paralympic Games.

The study, "A Topographic Map of Recruitment in Spinal Cord," published in the March 1 issue of the journal Nature, maps how neurons in the bottom of the fish’s spinal cord become active during slow movements, while cells further up the spinal cord activate as movements speed up.

A small group of dedicated competitors are aiming to achieve more than just completing this weekend's Ironman at Taupo.

They will be completing a fundraising mission that has seem them raise over $26,000 to purchase a piece of equipment for New Zealanders disabled by spinal cord injury - many through sports such as rugby, horse-riding, cycling or skiing.

The Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) Bicycle the Ironmen are looking to purchase was originally designed for Superman Christopher Reeves after he was paralysed in a horse-riding accident.

Now that a special bike for people with spinal cord injuries has arrived at a Virginia Beach facility, he also won't have to miss his workout.

Albright said he lost the use of his legs during back surgery in August 2004. Last May, he started working out on an Ergys 2 bike - the same one that Christopher Reeve used after the actor's horse-riding accident and that his family donated after his death. The bike uses electrical impulses to stimulate the muscles to pedal.

Before that, Albright, 35, would try exercising by pushing his wheelchair around with his arms, but that wasn't very satisfying.

MORE PARENTS might decide to donate the stem cells from their babies' umbilical cord blood if they knew the procedure was free, easy and could save lives.

That's the aim of state Senate Bill 148, which would establish a statewide education and awareness program.

This is a sport with a ball and goal lines and four players to a team. But hardly anyone can even stand up, much less walk or run.

And the doors of the gym are always propped open, allowing 20-degree winter nights to blow in, cooling the players, freezing everyone else. Guys with broken necks and cracked spines, after all, can't sweat.

This game, part fast, part frightening, is what they love. It makes them feel alive again. They call it murderball or quad rugby or wheelchair rugby.

Wheelchairs topple over, and bodies hit the ground.