Pursuing A Spinal Injury Claim

The emotional and psychological effects of a spinal injury can be devastating. Not only can it affect the loved ones around you, but it can also have far reaching consequences on other major areas of your life. In most cases, you will have to make huge financial adjustments depending on the extent of your injury. If you have been victim to a spinal injury at work, in a road traffic accident, or a fall, then you may be entitled to compensation. Continue Reading »

Quadriplegic man wins gun permit to go hunting again

Resident James Cap, a quadriplegic after a spinal cord injury in 1979, was granted permission in Superior Court on Nov. 10 to obtain a permit to carry a firearm provided it is locked in a safe when not being used and another licensed person works with him when he uses it.

”I am very happy and elated,” Mr. Cap said of the resolution to the appeal. “It has been a two-and-a-half year wait. I felt discriminated against.” Continue Reading »

Judge says handicapped Manville man can get gun permit

There is “no reason” James Cap, a quadriplegic who is physically unable to hold a gun or pull a trigger, should be denied a firearms ID card — a requirement for the purchase of any gun in New Jersey, a judge in Somerville said today.

“I hope you enjoy the use of your firearm,” Superior Court Judge John Pursel said before signing an order that will allow Cap to get a permit as long as any guns he buys are stored in a safe and only qualified people assist him with the weapons. Continue Reading »

Human tests of Geron’s spinal-cord medication put on hold

In a setback for Menlo Park-based Geron, the company announced Tuesday that federal authorities have put on hold its groundbreaking test on people of a spinal-cord injury treatment it developed from human embryonic stem cells.

Officials at Geron, which has yet to give its treatment to humans, were vague about the reason for the hold, saying only that it involved the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s pending review of new animal study data the company had submitted. Continue Reading »

‘You’ve got to keep going’

Jill Mason embodies challenges, successes of people living with spinal-cord injuries

One of the annoying things about life with two paralyzed legs is time, Jill Mason said.

It takes hours to get up, to shower, dress and fix something to eat, the daily routine that an able-bodied person — like the competitive triathlete Mason used to be — could accomplish in minutes.

In the five years since a drunken driver smashed into her bicycle on Highway 12 near Oakmont, severing her spinal cord, Mason, 31, has gotten faster at these mundane chores, but they still take an entire morning. Continue Reading »

Paralysis is a Catastrophic Injury

For an injury to be considered catastrophic, it must occur without any warning. It must also disrupt your life is some way, whether by inhibiting you from working a full-time job or by keeping your from experiencing your life in the way you had previous to the injury. It takes a lot to manage this kind of injury. It often takes several health care professionals and experts to tend to the injured as they go from the hospital to rehab and back into their community and home.

The financial burden that falls on the injured nearly always requires that they find a good injury attorney to make their life a bit easier. These attorneys work closely with professionals in the health care industry as well as rehabilitation medications. Continue Reading »

‘Oh my God, they are going to kill someone’

Man struggles to put life together after crash

What they remember most are the sounds.

For Evan Cronhardt, it was the sound of his life changing forever.

For Naval Academy police officer Cpl. Kelly Kuhn,it was the sound that triggered her fears.

On April 10, 2008, Cronhardt, 23, was on his way to a tanning salon when he began the usually mundane task of making a left turn in his Jeep Wrangler from eastbound Quarterfield Road to Landmark Drive in Glen Burnie. Continue Reading »

Mother of girl who ran over Bloomington boy order to pay $1M

BLOOMINGTON — A Bloomington mother convicted of child endangerment for allowing her daughter to drive without a license was ordered to serve one day in jail and pay $1 million in restitution to the family of a 15-year-old boy confined to a wheelchair since the girl ran over him in September.

Stephanie Uzueta, 39, and her daughter Emily Uzueta, now 16, were in court on charges relating to an accident that critically injured Brandon Major, of Bloomington. Continue Reading »

Train police to recognize spinal cord injury – inquest

Police should receive specialized training to recognize when someone has suffered a potential spinal cord injury, a judge has recommended.

The recommendation by provincial court Judge Ted Lismer was one of 10 included in an inquest report released yesterday into the death of Alan Earle (Sonny) Rupert.

Rupert, 47, died at Health Sciences Centre on Feb. 13, 2005, eight months after fracturing his spine while being escorted out of a Magnus Avenue rooming house following a domestic dispute. Continue Reading »

Spinal patient spins a comeback

Therapy “a 24/7 job”: Ten years after a skiing accident, Leah Potts stays driven.

Ten years ago, Leah Potts was a patient at Craig Hospital, after a skiing accident that broke her neck and damaged her spinal cord. The first doctors she saw warned her she might never walk again.

Today, Potts teaches Spinning, the popular and intense indoor group bicycling class. The Aspen resident can walk (with a cane). She skis again (with outriggers). And she blogs about her progress at leahpotts.com.

“I remember lying there in bed at the beginning,” she said. “I remember lying there thinking, ‘OK, this doesn’t sound too good. I have two choices: Lie here and cry about it, or get up and do something about it.’ I was 23 years old. I’d just graduated from college. I felt like my life was just beginning.” Continue Reading »