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New content on spinewire.com
Spinal Conquest hits the brickyard at the Indy 500 next week at better than
222 mph. The Galles Racing team car, driven by veteran Davey Hamilton, is
hoping for the checkered flag. What's more, they're raising money for SCI
research. SpineWire is an official source for news and updates on what's
surely the fastest charity on four wheels. See
http://www.spinewire.com/article16.htm or visit the racing team's homepage,
http://www.daveyhamilton.com
Here's one of the wildest disability stories of the year: Mom disagrees with
daughter who wants to check the old gal into a nursing home. Mom blasts
daughter with a handgun, paralyzes her from the neck down. Now daughter
doesn't want to live in a nursing home, or anywhere else. She sues to pull
her vent. She dies. Mom, now behind bars, may get charged with murder. See
http://www.spinewire.com/article15.htm
Does life with paralysis center way too much around bathroom business of the
number two kind? Does the word colostomy have a comforting ring to it? Gee,
why not? Check out http://www.spinewire.com/h_betterlife.htm and you may
never think ill of this little bowel remodel.
We asked for it. We got it. SpineWire, with help from the regulars at
www.cureparalysis.org Research Forum, solicited research-related questions
for Dr. Wise Young. Well, we kept the good doctor rather busy over the past
week or two. We've recently posted nine of his dispatches to the WiseWire
section of the site. Coverage includes the following topics:
Transplants for SCI, hopeful? Realistic?
Nerve root injury, ignored by research?
4AP combined with baclofen, how safe?
Is a breakthrough necessary, or do we already have the pieces?
Researching combinations of therapies, endlessly time consuming?
Crossing the gap in the injured cord, a daunting task?
Summarizing cure advances, what a mother wants to know.
Defining the basis of hope for cure, realistically.
Acute SCI treatment, the early hours.
To access the files, go to http://www.spinewire.com/wise.htm
Speaking of Wise, his Rutgers University laboratory will benefit greatly from
a recent New York City fund-raising event that pulled in $1.5 million.
Christopher Reeve, who spoke to the well-heeled Manhattan crowd, expressed
frustration over recent media reports ("Superman Walks"). The week before,
Reeve had participated in research at UCLA involving treadmill training - see
http://www.spinewire.com/cure3.htm for details of the work.
Later, in a statement, Reeve said he's still completely paralyzed from the
rib cage down. "However, I am participating in a cutting-edge therapy, which
is part of my overall exercise program. Wearing a parachute harness and
suspended by overhead cables, I stand on a treadmill. When it is put into
motion, energy and memory which remain in the spinal cord allow me to step at
speeds up to 4 miles per hour."
The latest stats on SCI: not much new here. Male, young, car wrecks (gunshots
up dramatically) and expensive. See http://www.spinewire.com/h_stats.htm -
derived from the National SCI Statistical Center.
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Until next time, adios.