Sunday – 4/10/2011

It was a pretty busy week for me with visits and meetings. I survived the invasion of The O’s on Wednesday… and had a great time in the process! At one point, there were 11 people in my apartment which made for a comfy and crowded environment at the same time. It was great to see the kids as well as Sean, Angie and Karen. My nephew Brady has gotten so big and is starting to show a personality. I included a picture of myself and the “O Gang.” We watched the movie, Despicable Me, which I actually enjoyed probably as much the kids! The evening ended with some Cheesecake Factory for dinner, which never disappoints!

Thursday was a busy day as well at Metro. I was there to speak about and demonstrate my cough assist system as part of a presentation to Sam Maddox, Knowledge Director for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. Several individuals who have benefited from various technologies the FES Center has developed were on hand to speak about how the devices have helped them. The technology being developed at Metro and Case Western Reserve University is truly amazing!  There was a quadriplegic who demonstrated how she can now stand up with the push of a button that contracts her leg muscles. Another man demonstrated how by pushing a button he can make a fist to hold things. Of course I demonstrated my ability to generate an extremely forceful and productive cough with the push of a button. I am very fortunate to live in Cleveland and be able to be a part of the amazing technology being developed to assist the SCI community.

Sam seemed to be very impressed by what he saw. He has been working in the spinal cord arena for over 30 years. He is a journalist by trade and extremely knowledgeable about all of the research taking place in the industry. He was actually the gentleman who wrote the article about, Cethrin, the drug I mentioned in a previous post that is showing remarkable results in acute cervical injuries. He and I spoke at length about many of the other trials that are taking place across the world. He referred me to a recent article he wrote which highlights many of the medical breakthroughs taking place.

While there is still much work to be done, one can’t help but get excited about how far the medical and scientific community have come in the field of spinal cord research. Much more funding and research is still needed to help all of us suffering from such a catastrophic injury. An injury like this takes everything from you and gives you nothing in return. Every day is a challenge to stay strong when your body wants to continue to atrophy and remain stagnant. I am cautiously optimistic and hopeful that significant benefits will exist for us in the near future.

While at Metro on Thursday, I was invited to participate in a symposium in which I would be part of a panel discussing our experiences with clinical trials. I plan to participate in this event later this month. It will be another opportunity for me to preach the benefits of my cough assist system and hopefully help others learn about what is taking place in the medical community and how to be a part of it. I also was approached about participating in another study which measures biofeedback information between the muscles and the brain. This would be a study similar to the one I participated in at the VA hospital, but more intense.

Friday and Saturday were devoted to The Masters golf tournament, although I did manage to squeeze an interview in with the Plain Dealer. In case you’re wondering, the article is still slated to run, but continues to evolve based off of everything happening in my life. I promise to let everyone know once it reaches print.

Finally, I will be posting details in a few days about the benefit run that my friend Katie will be completing on my behalf next month.

As always, thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support!

Scott