Question
Leslie- I just got home from the hospital where I rec'd news that our very dear friend had "kinked" his spinal cord in a fall between the C3-C4 which has left him with no feeling below his neck and he is on a ventilator.  He fell last night and when they admitted him they thought that he had a possible brain injury so a mri of the spine was not ordered.  Today they ordered it b/c he had no feeling in his lower extremities.  They explained to us that since it is severely bruised in this spot, that he may never regain use of his limbs.  When you watch Sunday Football and there is an spine injury, the players get flown all over the place to receive treatment.  Do you know of a place where we can go that may specialize in this type of injury.  Or is this a "wait and see" type of injury.  We are not willing to just "wait and see".  Please help.

Answer
hi Millie

yes, this is a bad injury. people use words like 'bruise' and kink and it sounds so harmless, but it's the same in the end as if you'd severed the cord.

i don't know where you are or what hospital your friend is in, or what your financial situation is like. you can try a couple places online that are known to be good SCI hospitals

www.craighospital.org/
http://www.shepherd.org/

to the best of my knowledge, no one that i've ever heard to have an actual spinal cord injury has made a recovery to previous functioning. they are doing research and such, but it is still a long way from being something we know how to fix. i am sorry to be so blunt.

i wish your friend good luck, and please write in again if you have more questions
leslie