Monthly Archives: November 2009

IF Mackay primary school students are going to take notice of anybody about spinal safety then it will probably be Wayne Leo.

Mr Leo has spoken to more than 245,000 children about the danger of risky behaviour such as diving into water before checking its depth, not wearing a seatbelt or playing sports recklessly.

The Spinal Education Awareness Team (SEAT) presenter, who has been a volunteer since it began 22 years ago, will share his story of how he sustained his spinal cord injury, and what life is like in a wheelchair with almost 1400 children.

Growing up in Southern California, Tom Hampton excelled at the sports that would ultimately shape his life – snow skiing, water skiing and surfing. He played football for 10 years and received his Red Cross advanced first-aid card at 13 so he could be on the National Ski Patrol as a junior patrolman.

The taste of rescue led him to a career as a firefighter. For 30 years, he was able to help others in dire situations.

Ed Quijada – as part of this series, Ed and Amy chat with new patients suffering a spinal cord injury

Jumping out of a tree or riding a motorcycle without a helmet aren’t the only bad decisions that can turn into a spinal cord injury.

There’s also texting while driving and not wearing a seat belt.

This was the message that locals with spinal cord injuries were hoping to send as they spoke about awareness at various local schools.

During Florida Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week, Coral Springs residents Ryan Gebauer and Alex Lutin spoke about the dangers of bad decisions at various local high schools, including Coral Glades and Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

The car accident that damaged Patrick Rummerfield’s spinal cord in 1974 should have laid him up permanently.

So why does he now drive drag racers in Texas, race drag boats on Creve Coeur Lake, break land speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats, run marathons across Antarctica or run endurance races across the Gobi Desert in China?

We have been following this story for months. A high school athlete, Elle, who happens to be paralyzed, and her family, shook things up in Florida. She wanted to compete on the track and field team. Some of the other schools did not to how to handle the situation.

Good news according to the Miami Herald:

The Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors voted Monday to add an adapted division for students with permanent physical disabilities to the state track and field championship series.

Mike Bliss’ story can be told in four words:

Believe. Persevere. Thank you.

On March 22, 2008, Bliss, a 21-year-old junior accounting major at the State University of New York at Buffalo, left a Main Street bar near the campus. In an unprovoked attack, he was beaten and stomped by two other SUNY students. The assault left him with two dislocated vertebrae and a bruised spinal cord — words that understate the severity of the injury. He was paralyzed from the neck down.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have identified a gene that tells embryonic stem cells in the brain when to stop producing nerve cells called neurons. The research is a significant advance in understanding the development of the nervous system, which is essential to addressing conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders.

The bulk of neuron production in the central nervous system takes place before birth, and comes to a halt by birth. But scientists have identified specific regions in the core of the brain that retain stem cells into adulthood and continue to produce new neurons.

The construction site in East San Jose is a clutter of tools, building materials and heavy machinery. Everyone must wear a hard hat and it’s not easy to get around.

That’s especially the case for someone in a wheelchair.

But here is Mark “Sparky” Muhn, 20 months removed from a ski accident that left him paralyzed, still doing the contracting job he loves. Even if it means having his wheelchair strapped to a forklift sometimes and carried to a concrete slab foundation where he can supervise his work crew.

Muhn isn’t the sort who allows challenges to stop him.