For a change of pace:

Christopher Reeve is showing improvement several years after his accident!
(from a story on MSNBC news site, 12 Sept. 2002):

Reeve’s progress called ‘unprecedented’

Doctors amazed by actor’s improvement years after paralysis


ASSOCIATED PRESS


Sept. 12 —  “Superman” star Christopher Reeve’s against-all-odds improvement
has stunned doctors, who say it is the first documented case of such
progress over paralysis years after catastrophic spinal cord injury.

THEY BELIEVE intensive physical therapy is key to the modest, though
important, changes Reeve has seen since his injury in 1995. However, they
cannot predict whether improvement will continue or if the same approach
will help others with long-term paralysis.
       “We are talking about an unprecedented amount of recovery. There is
just no basis to talk about how much more to expect,” said neuroscientist
Naomi Kleitman, head of spinal cord injury research at the National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
       The first clear sign of change occurred one early November day almost
two years ago, when Reeve twitched his left index finger. By then, he had
been immobile from the neck down for more than five years, unable to feel or
move anything. But the movement was the start of a slow rebirth of sensation
and control that he says has changed his life for the better.
       Reeve, who turns 50 on Sept. 25, still must use a wheelchair. All but
one hour a day, he uses a ventilator to breathe. But he can feel human
touch, experience pain and move his fingers, wrists and legs.

‘WORST-CASE SCENARIO’
       “His was the worst-case scenario,” said Dr. John W. McDonald, who
oversaw his treatment at Washington University School of Medicine in St.
Louis. “Nobody in the world would have predicted he could recover.”

         Reeve was thrown from a horse seven years ago and landed on his
helmet, breaking his neck and damaging the thumb-size bundle of nerves that
carries messages between the brain and the rest of the body. At least
three-quarters of the nerve fibers were severed, and what remained did not
work. Over the years, his muscles withered, his bones thinned, and he
suffered repeated bouts of infection and life-threatening complications.
       Nurse Linda Schultz said Reeve’s finger twitch was the impetus to
begin the intensive physical therapy that may have led to more improvements.

ELECTRICAL STIMULATION AND EXERCISE
       After years of his own exercise efforts, the actor began an approach
called activity-based recovery, which involves repeated electrical
stimulation of the muscles. The idea is that constant motion could
re-educate the remaining nerves in the spine to carry signals and perhaps
even sprout new branches to connect to healthy fibers above and below the
injury.
       For an hour three times a week, Reeve sat on an exercise bicycle
while electrical stimulation made his legs pump the pedals. Similar
stimulation was done to other muscle groups. Next he began weekly
aquatherapy, working his muscles in a pool for two hours at a time.
       McDonald described the results in a report in the September issue of
the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, including an interview he did with Reeve
during the summer.
       Now, Reeve can tell hot from cold. He can feel about two-thirds of
the normal sensation of being touched and half of the usual intensity of
pinpricks. This ability to feel lets him know when he should shift his
weight, so he can sit in a wheelchair up to 16 hours a day without getting
pressure sores.
 Typically, doctors tell paralyzed patients that most improvement occurs in
the first six months with no hope of recovery beyond two years.

         In the water, he can make flying motions with his arms and walk.
However, he still requires around-the-clock nursing care, and out of the
pool, he cannot raise his arms or walk without being held up.
       Reeve told McDonald that knowing he can breathe on his own has
relieved his terror of a ventilator failure, and life with his family is
much more normal.
       “They know I am healthier, stronger, and that on any day, I might
have a surprising recovery,” he said. For instance, after a recent session
in the pool, “my ability to push off from the wall against resistance was
about twice as strong as it was weeks earlier.”

REGAINING SENSE OF TOUCH
       Gaining sensation has also been important. “It makes a huge
difference if someone touches you on the hand, and you can feel it,” he
said. “You make a much more meaningful connection.”
       Typically, doctors tell paralyzed patients that most improvement
occurs in the first six months with no hope of recovery beyond two years.

          “The truth is, we don’t know,” said Dr. Kevin O’Connor, head of
spinal cord injury recovery at Boston’s Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.
“Given this report, it’s really unfair to patients to say there is a time
limit.”
       Doctors say they also cannot be sure, from a single case, whether
repetitive movements actually do revive the wiring of the spine to carry
lost messages. But several said they believe Reeve’s unusual course of
physical therapy played a role in his recovery.
       “I can’t help but think it had something do with it,” said Dr. John
Jane, who treated Reeve at the University of Virginia soon after the
accident. “People often begin to recover right away. The fact is, he did
not. It’s the late recovery that is so absolutely unique.”
       A study under way by McDonald, comparing 20 patients who get
repetitive movement and 20 with usual care, may help answer this.
       Reeve, certainly, hopes this is just the start.
       “My recovery means everything to me, because while some people are
able to accept living with a disability, I am not one of them,” he said. “I
want my life back.”