Paraplegic Man Suffers Spider Bite, Walks Again

[Claire]

Huh??
cbs13.com/watercooler/Paraplegic.Man.Suffers.2.958151.html

[matisse]

Interesting.....but since I am a genetic freak, not SCI, I still have to wait...........

[Chan]

I remember there was a story similar to this a few years ago, I think. A para went diving (oh crap, maybe it was MS....I can't remember), anyway, a guy in a wheelchair went diving, and something about the pressure of the depths he went to when he was under the water ended up restoring his ability to walk.

Crazy.

[Claire]

I met a lady once and she told me her mom had been in a chair for 7 years with MS. Then she had a stroke, and the stroke somehow restored her ability to walk; sent her MS into remission I guess. Very strange.

[Claire]

This link was originally posted on another board I frequent. A guy there pointed out that the venom of a brown recluse spider destroys nerve tissue. So the spider bite had nothing to do with it. It was just a catalyst for sending him back to rehab where they found that he wasn't really paralyzed after all. The guy had to have had nerve function all this time...for 20 years he wheeled around not knowing that he could actually walk. Can you imagine? How many other paras are wheeling around when they could walk? Is that a freak thing that happened to this one guy, or are there more?

Sounds a bit like Quid Pro Quo, doesn't it?

[Claire]

Mar 16, 2009 5:50:36 GMT -5 0 said:

I am sure there's a lot more people like that, especially if they were at an underfunded and understaffed facility.

That's a really disturbing thought.

[Phil]

Mar 16, 2009 5:50:36 GMT -5 0 said:

I am sure there's a lot more people like that, especially if they were at an underfunded and understaffed facility.

I was in rehab wth a guy that was an SCI quad from a fall, but he had a full recovery. Except he wouldn't try to walk, or move, or anythng. PT's would pull their hair out trying to get him to exercse, but he just refused. He left rehab in a chair. 20+ years later, he still uses it (he happens to live next door to a friend of mine) and lives as a "quad".

[amy]

Well, thank you for posting this. I had a paraplegic patient ask me about this story in my clinic today and I knew exactly what to say.

[amy]

Great, so the first thing he did when he learned to walk again was beat up his wife.

[roger888]

Reminds me of those stories you read in the papers where the biggest scumbag around wins the lottery.

[Phil]

Mar 17, 2009 2:33:30 GMT -5 roger888 said:

Reminds me of those stories you read in the papers where the biggest scumbag around wins the lottery.

You're right. It does seem like the scumbags get the breaks quite often. It sounds like he was/is just that.

[Deleted]

Ain't that a bitch!!

[Claire]

Mar 16, 2009 10:06:42 GMT -5 Phil said:

Mar 16, 2009 5:50:36 GMT -5 0 said:

I am sure there's a lot more people like that, especially if they were at an underfunded and understaffed facility.

I was in rehab wth a guy that was an SCI quad from a fall, but he had a full recovery. Except he wouldn't try to walk, or move, or anythng. PT's would pull their hair out trying to get him to exercse, but he just refused. He left rehab in a chair. 20+ years later, he still uses it (he happens to live next door to a friend of mine) and lives as a "quad".

Maybe he had BIID!

I also once talked to a former para confessed to me that he had made a full recovery but still used his chair for the express purpose of milking his insurance for all it was worth (ie. purchase of a new van) and his doctor didn't know he'd made a full recovery. I think he thought we would have something in common. He was wrong.

[yoell]

I saw this and, figured to share it. It is at the end, but worth the wait.

www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/222215/march-19-2009/when-animals-attack-our-morals---chimps--lizards---spiders