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#1
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05-20-2011, 02:51 AM
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| So Fucking Banned Poster Rank:260 Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 5,358 Mentioned: 5 Post(s) Quoted: 53 Post(s)
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Miracle of Paralysed Crash Victim Who Can Walk Again
A hit-and-run victim paralysed from the waist down has stood up on his own and taken steps after pioneering treatment. Rob Summers, 25, is the first patient to respond to the therapy, which involves electrical stimulation of the spinal cord. He said: ‘This procedure has completely changed my life.’ The treatment, which took 30 years to develop, ‘teaches’ the spinal cord to control limbs and body functions independently of the brain.  Mr Summers, who is normally confined to a wheelchair, has been able to push himself up and stand for several minutes without assistance. With help, he has taken repeated steps on a treadmill, and has regained some sexual and bladder function. Scientists described the success, reported in The Lancet medical journal, as ‘a breakthrough’. The American research was supported by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, the charity founded by Superman actor Christopher Reeve and his wife.   Mr Reeve was paralysed from the neck down in a riding accident in 1995, and subsequently campaigned tirelessly on behalf of spinal injury research. He died in 2004 aged 52. Mr Summers was an athlete in peak physical condition when a car smashed into him as he walked in Portland, Oregon, in 2006. He suffered serious spinal cord damage which left him paraplegic but with some feeling below the waist.   Therapy: Mr Summers has been able to stand for several minutes without assistance thanks to the treatment. He is the first patient to respond to the therapy He had two years of training to learn the muscle movements necessary to stand and take assisted steps. Then a device was implanted in his back to stimulate the lower spinal cord. Mr Summers said: ‘For someone who for four years was unable to move even a toe, to stand on my own is the most amazing feeling. I believe that epidural stimulation will get me out of this chair.’ *The researchers accept that their work may not help patients without feeling below the level of injury. Professor Geoffrey Raisman of the Institute of Neurology, University College London, said: ‘This is not repair, but an improvement of function of surviving tissue. It is not and does not claim to be a cure.’  · |
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#6
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05-20-2011, 02:06 PM
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| My Rank: LANCE CORPORAL Poster Rank:1853 Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 276 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 9 Post(s)
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Re: Miracle of Paralysed Crash Victim Who Can Walk Again
Good for him if he's happy, but this is nothing close to a "miracle". A miracle would be a spontaneous healing of him so he was able to walk and feel on his own like a normal person. Now he's just a man made robot. Far from a miracle. |
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#8
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05-20-2011, 11:05 PM
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 My Rank: STAFF SERGEANT Poster Rank:787 Male Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 996 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 4 Post(s)
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Re: Miracle of Paralysed Crash Victim Who Can Walk Again
It's really amazing what science can do when it's put to something positive. With some refining this treatment could mean the end of paralysis!
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I'm happy for him and his progress too... I always do this when people call things miracles though.
