Cowboy hopes stem-cell surgery will let him walk again
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 7:41 am
Not MS, but someone is willing to try something.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/nationa ... 09.html?p=
Cowboy hopes stem-cell surgery will let him walk again
Last Updated Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:45:05 EST
CBC News
KELVINGTON, SASK. - A horse trainer in eastern Saskatchewan is
preparing to undergo an experimental operation in China that he hopes
will help him to recover the ability to walk.
On April 14, 2002, Casey Peterson was training race horses on his farm
in Kelvington, Sask. when he had an accident.
Casey Peterson hoists himself from wheelchair to a specially equipped
van.
"The horses got spooked and they took off, and I think it would have
been OK, but I hung on and tried to drag them down and got caught
underneath the wagon," Peterson recalled. "It flipped on me a few times
and it caught the spinal cord."
Peterson, a world-champion chuck-wagon racer, was paralyzed.
Doctors told him he would never regain movement below the neck, but he
has already proved them wrong by moving his arms.
"They told me I would have no hands, no fingers and if I did, it would
be minimal. But it's really come back. It was two, three months before
I could feed myself."
Determined to walk, Peterson is now heading to China for a rare and
risky operation. Surgeons will cut along his spine to add embryonic
stem cells.
The hope is that the spinal cord will generate new cells, and help
Peterson to walk again.
Doctors in Canada won't endorse the experimental and controversial
operation, but Peterson said he has always tried to stay positive.
The surgery will cost $50,000, and Peterson's friends are helping him
raise the money.
"I think if they can put a man on the moon they can make a man walk
again," said Peterson's friend, Karen Falkowski.
Copyright =A92005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/nationa ... 09.html?p=
Cowboy hopes stem-cell surgery will let him walk again
Last Updated Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:45:05 EST
CBC News
KELVINGTON, SASK. - A horse trainer in eastern Saskatchewan is
preparing to undergo an experimental operation in China that he hopes
will help him to recover the ability to walk.
On April 14, 2002, Casey Peterson was training race horses on his farm
in Kelvington, Sask. when he had an accident.
Casey Peterson hoists himself from wheelchair to a specially equipped
van.
"The horses got spooked and they took off, and I think it would have
been OK, but I hung on and tried to drag them down and got caught
underneath the wagon," Peterson recalled. "It flipped on me a few times
and it caught the spinal cord."
Peterson, a world-champion chuck-wagon racer, was paralyzed.
Doctors told him he would never regain movement below the neck, but he
has already proved them wrong by moving his arms.
"They told me I would have no hands, no fingers and if I did, it would
be minimal. But it's really come back. It was two, three months before
I could feed myself."
Determined to walk, Peterson is now heading to China for a rare and
risky operation. Surgeons will cut along his spine to add embryonic
stem cells.
The hope is that the spinal cord will generate new cells, and help
Peterson to walk again.
Doctors in Canada won't endorse the experimental and controversial
operation, but Peterson said he has always tried to stay positive.
The surgery will cost $50,000, and Peterson's friends are helping him
raise the money.
"I think if they can put a man on the moon they can make a man walk
again," said Peterson's friend, Karen Falkowski.
Copyright =A92005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved