Curing spinal-cord injury life’s goal for Ottawa surgeon

OTTAWA-Dr. Eve Tsai has made a real name for herself with her work in the operating room and in the research lab, Matthew Pearson reports.

The tragedy of young lives altered forever by freak accidents or foolish mistakes drives Dr. Eve Tsai to find a cure for spinal-cord injuries.

The causes may vary from car crash to sports mishap, but the result is often the same: a lifetime of paralysis. Continue Reading »

Campaign to Cure Paralysis Map

Be counted: Living with paralysis? Care about the cause? Add your voice. Show the world the strength of our community!

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation has just relaunched the Campaign to Cure Paralysis map, now with better visualization tools and an expanded access to the paralysis community.

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation is asking those affected by paralysis — the injured, their families and friends, caregivers and professionals — to add their names and stories to this map. Continue Reading »

University of Louisville, Kentucky centers develop treatments, create hope for spinal cord injuries

A bullet remains lodged in Michelle Alexander’s spinal cord nearly six years after her husband shot her four times — instantly paralyzing her — before killing himself in July 2004.

Doctors told her she’d probably never walk again. But a rehabilitation strategy being pioneered at the University of Louisville is changing her fate.

Today Alexander uses a walker to get around, takes tentative steps with two canes and gets on a specially designed treadmill four days a week as part of a research study evaluating Locomotor training, which UofL’s Susan Harkema helped develop to teach lost skills to broken nervous systems.

It’s one of several areas of spinal cord research at UofL and the University of Kentucky, home to two of about 10 large centers for such work in the nation. Continue Reading »

Stem Cell Treatments Might Soon Cure Paralysis

Hans Keirstead, a researcher at University of California, Irvine, is set to begin a small human trial of his embryonic stem cell treatment on patients with spinal cord injuries. The treatment is designed for patients within 14 days of suffering spinal cord injuries. In rat trials, paralyzed rats were injected with a stem cell formula. The paralyzed rats were able to walk six weeks later. Continue Reading »

Ameristar makes record donation

Money helps VA Medical Center buy equipment

Ameristar’s workplace giving campaign presented a $236,000 donation to the VA Medical Center Spinal Cord Injury Service, the largest donation ever received by the St. Louis VA SCI Service.

Ameristar team members presented a check to the VA on March 24 at the VA’s Jefferson Barracks location. The gift includes contributions from Ameristar St. Charles workers, the company and the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. Continue Reading »

Next decade offers promise for treatment of spinal cord injuries

New study says a multidisciplinary approach is most likely to achieve results

Although new developments in the management of spinal cord injuries (SCI) are on the horizon, any eventual cure for the condition is more likely to involve a multidisciplinary approach, drawing from expertise in several fields, according to a review article published in the April 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS). Continue Reading »

Researcher says cure for paralysis is within reach

Nearly 300,000 people in the U.S. are living with a spinal cord injury. Every year, 12,000 people are told they’ll never walk again after an accident.

But what if one injection of stem cells could pump new movement into a paralyzed body?

A scientist who’s spent the past decade looking for a cure says a new treatment is within reach.

What started out as a day on the beach ended up changing 31-year-old Janne Kouri’s future. Continue Reading »

Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to be featured on TLC’s American Chopper

Episode to unveil Orange County Choppers’ first-ever wheelchair-accessible motorcycle

SHORT HILLS, N.J., Dec. 29 /PRNewswire/ — The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation announced today that Paul Teutul Sr. and the crew from Orange County Choppers (OCC) have built a custom wheelchair-accessible motorcycle specifically to raise funds for the Reeve Foundation. A first of its kind, this trike bike allows someone living with paraplegia the opportunity to ride a motorcycle without having to transfer from their wheelchair.

The American Chopper episode featuring the Reeve Foundation/Life Rolls On bike is scheduled to air on TLC on Thursday, January 7 at 9PM ET/PT. Continue Reading »

American Chopper for Reeve Foundation Sneak Peek

Paul Sr. and the crew from Orange County Choppers (OCC) has built a motorcycle for the Reeve Foundation. Continue Reading »

Michael-Ryan Pattison Foundation

A Cure is Coming is a foundation to build awareness of, and philanthropic support for, those with spinal cord injuries that enable access to a range of specialized therapies focused on improving overall quality of life.