New hope for ventilator patients

A new approach to nerve repair has restored breathing to rats with spinal cord injury.

Scientists believe the same technique could help human patients who have to rely on ventilators, leaving them vulnerable to dangerous infections.

“We’ve shown for the very first time that robust, long distance regeneration can restore function of the respiratory system fully,” said lead researcher Professor Jerry Silver, from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, US.

The researchers used a section of peripheral nerve to “bridge” a break in the spinal cord which had paralysed half the diaphragm, the sheet-like muscle that enables breathing. Continue Reading »

Spinal cord processes information just like areas of the brain

Patrick Stroman’s work mapping the function and information processing of the spinal cord could improve treatment for spinal cord injuries.

“Basic physiology books describe the spinal cord as a relay system, but it’s part of the central nervous system and processes information just like parts of the brain do,” explains Dr. Stroman, director of the Queen’s MRI Facility and Canada Research Chair in Imaging Physics.

Dr. Stroman’s research is directed at precisely mapping the areas above and below a spinal cord injury in order to better determine the precise nature of an injury and the effectiveness of subsequent treatment. When medical research has advanced to a point where clinicians are able to bridge an injury on a spinal cord, Dr. Stroman’s spinal mapping technique will be key in accurately pinpointing the injury to be bridged. Continue Reading »

Riding a bike with her hands

Canadian Morgan Van Breda is cycling from Delhi to Kanyakumari to raise awareness about spinal cord injury, and funds for her own treatment

Thirty two year-old Morgan Van Breda is cycling across India — with her hands. The ambitious young Canadian was only 24 when a soccer post collapsed on her back while she was in Cuba, turning her into a paraplegic.

Now, she is on a 3,900 km, seven-week journey from Agra to Kanyakumari on a handcyle, raising awareness about spinal cord injury, and funds for breakthrough stem cell research that may allow her to walk again.  Continue Reading »

Amazing hypothermia protocol cures gymnast’s spinal cord injury

A relatively new treatment protocol is providing nearly miraculous results for some victims of spinal cord injuries, reports the Miami Herald. In the case of one 20-year-old gymnast from Florida, hypothermic treatment before surgery appears to have prevented profound paralysis and put him back on his feet just days after the accident.

The young gymnast, a state champion, was practicing for an audition with the Cirque de Soleil when a double flip went badly wrong. He missed and landed squarely on his head. Continue Reading »

Rick Hansen set to re-enact his Man in Motion journey

Relay involving 7,000 Canadians chosen from 600 communities along the route will begin on 25th anniversary of historic trek

When an exhausted but triumphant Rick Hansen pushed himself into Vancouver on May 22, 1987, after circling the globe in a wheelchair for two years, the miles were all behind him but the journey was just beginning. Continue Reading »

The Site That Breathes

“Life is not measured by the number breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” This quote has two meanings for me. The first meaning is exactly how it’s stated. The second is a literal and personal meaning. Life is not measured by the number breaths I take, which happens to be 18 breaths a minute, but by the moment that took my breath away. On November 1, 2002 I was in a car accident. I broke my neck at C1 C2 and injured my spinal cord. Continue Reading »

Australian Man Gets Treatment at Shepherd Center

ATLANTA – A 29-year-old Australian man who suffered a spinal chord injury found himself at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center for intense rehabilitation.

“I push myself every day,” said Shepherd Center patient Joshua Clift. “I treat it as a job, like you’re doing the extra hours and you only get out what you put in.”

Clift is more than 9,200 miles from home, but the 29-year-old isn’t complaining. Continue Reading »

Paralysed rugby player stands again for the first time in 15 years on his wedding day

A former rugby player who was paralysed from the neck down stood again for the first time – on his wedding day.

John Power was just 18 when he suffered a devastating spinal cord injury while playing for Oldham RLFC A team. It ended his promising career as a professional rugby player.

But, John, 33, was determined to live life to the full and has battled for the last 15 years to gradually recover some movement. Continue Reading »

The Brave Ability Of Joni Tada

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Especially when it’s a discarded wheelchair.

Tens of thousands of disabled people in developing countries enjoy the dignity of moving about in rehabilitated wheelchairs, thanks to Joni Eareckson Tada.

The minister and disability-rights advocate has touched countless lives with her wheelchair project.

But she might never have had such an impact had it not been for one fateful summer day in 1967.

Just 17, she dived off a raft in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay and fractured her spinal cord, paralyzing herself from the neck down. Continue Reading »

Aussie Quadriplegic is chicken soup for America’s soul

The serious impact of the spinal cord injury is remembered during the second week of November by Australians with the help of Josh Wood’s inspiring story.

Online PR News – 19-November-2010 – Around Australia the second week in November is a time to reflect on the serious impact of Spinal Cord injury and Aussie Quadriplegic inspiration Josh Wood is being celebrated around the world for his efforts to educate. His story has taken Jack Canfield’s team (of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame) by the heart-strings and is published in the new version of that series ‘The Well Adjusted Soul’ released in Australia this month. Continue Reading »