Three years have passed since Tara Blackwell had her life altered in a split-second of tragedy. She has clung to hope. She has been fueled by hope. Now, for the first time since her paralyzing injury, Blackwell is ready to turn hope into a dramatic progression.

Blackwell, 23, a Pine Forest High graduate and former standout softball player at Troy University, is preparing to travel to Germany on Aug. 9 for the first phase of a stem-cell procedure that could enable her to regain movement.

The magnet, the size of a grain of rice, lets people direct the movement of a cursor across a computer screen or a powered wheelchair around a room.

It is easily implanted under the tongue, the team at the Georgia Institute of Technology said.

A surgeon's struggle to regain his life and career

Sweat soaked his Aggie baseball cap as Eugene Alford lurched upright over the parallel bars. Suddenly, he was once again the tallest person in the room.

"Man," he said, as his daughter flashed a thumbs-up. "This feels so good. This is the first time I've been standing upright since December 30."

But don't feel sorry for Meagan. With an attitude that belies her 16 years, Meagan faces everyday challenges with grace and dignity — and without self-pity. Her confidence has enabled her family to cope with an incident that changed their lives forever.

"Deep down in my heart, I know I'm going to walk again. I just wish there was a cure now,” she said.

Film star Christopher Reeve was best known for playing Superman until he was paralysed from the neck down after a riding accident in 1995. He then became a tireless campaigner for the disabled, raising millions for research.

He survived ten years of near total immobility but died of complications in 2004, aged 52. His wife, Dana, 44, died unexpectedly of cancer in March 2006, leaving their son Will, then 13, an orphan. A new book tells their remarkable story.

A tiny start-up company in Irvine has a shot at becoming the first to gain federal approval to test an embryonic stem cell treatment in humans.

Two degenerative nerve diseases are the first targets for California Stem Cell Inc.'s therapies. They are ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, which kills adults, and SMA, a fatal disease affecting newborns.

Helmets are supposed to protect the head, but researchers at the University of British Columbia say their Pro-Neck-Tor helmet can also protect the spine.

A typical bike helmet can absorb a head-first impact, but when the cyclist’s head stops, the body keeps moving, and that can fracture the spine. Researchers claim the prototype helmet unveiled Tuesday can dissipate up to 56 per cent of the impact.

According to a UBC news release, a head-first impact in sports can load the neck with as much force as the weight of more than five people.

Mornings are the worst time for Kevin Everett. That's when the pain is at its most intense, when he's reminded that things probably will never be the way they once were.

"I'm still faced with challenges," he said. "I pray every day that things will get better. I've got to cope with 'em the best way I can in everyday life."

He knows he shouldn't complain. Lord knows, it could have been so much worse. He thanks God every day that he can walk and talk and do the things thousands of others can't. Therein lines the contradiction.

Think of it as the cost of the first two sips of a morning coffee.

“Thirty cents, that’s all we have to get from each Canadian and we’ll have the $10,000,000 for the researchers to go ahead with doing more for the cure for spinal cord injury. They’re so close, all they need is the money. We have to let people know what’s happening,” said Charlie Cetinski, 65, a master electrician and entrepreneur, who got a spinal cord injury in a flying accident 10 years ago.