Posted on 03/13/2009 5:25:56 AM PDT by LibWhacker
He's been confined to a wheelchair for 20 years. Now a paraplegic man is walking again. And his doctors call it a miracle. CBS13 went to Manteca to find out how a spider bite helped get him back on his feet.
"I closed my eyes and then I was spinning like a flying saucer," explains David Blancarte.
A motorcycle accident almost killed David 21 years ago. At the time he might have wished he was dead.
"I asked my doctor, "sir what happened?' I can't feel my legs," said David.
Ever since, David's been relying on his wheelchair to get around. Then the spider bite. A Brown Recluse sent him to the hospital, then to rehab for eight months.
"I'm here for a spider bite. I didn't know I would end up walking," says David.
A nurse noticed David's leg spasm and ran a test on him.
"When they zapped my legs, I felt the current, I was like whoa and I yelled," he says.
He felt the current and the rush of a renewed sense of hope.
"She says,'your nerves are alive. They're just asleep," explained David.
Five days later David was walking.
"I was walking on the bar back and forth," he said.
Now David is out of the hospital and on his feet and walking.
David basks in his glory and gives a ray of hope to other hoping to walk again. The 48-year-old former boxer and dancer are taking it in stride, knowing his best days are still ahead.
David's dream is to see his 14-year-old twin daughters grow up and get married so he can walk them down the aisle and have that first dance.
My spidey-sense is tingling
Now he must choose if he will use these new powers for good or for evil.
LOL!
Apparently, the spider injected him with embryonic stem cells. I can think of no other possible cure.
With great power comes great responsibility.
so soon? and the bill was just signed yesterday.
All because of 000!
It is hard to tell from this story whether the spider bite had anything to do with his recovery...other than, maybe, the “spasm”.
“Now he must choose if he will use these new powers for good or for evil.”
Billy Ray Valentine did OK
What the....?????
IIRC, spider venom is a nerve toxin, meant to paralyze the prey so the spider can eat it at its leisure. So it wouldn’t be completely unlikely that the spider venom had some effect on this man’s nervous system.
Is this kind of like the lady who got stung by bees and her arthritis went away?
It’s the ancient French martial art of Dance Boxing.
The thirty second rounds following by rhythmic white flag waving.
About the only good result I ever heard of out of a Brown Recluse bite.
No s***
Does Bambi know about this ?
My personal physician, an internal medicine specialist who I went to high school with, was hospitalized for sic weeks and nearly died from such a bite.
He hasn’t prescribed it for any of his patients yet.
Zero just hasn’t had a chance to claim credit for it yet.
Still waitiing for the sea level to fall.
Maybe that is what really happened to Chris Matthews
Recluse spiders build irregular webs that frequently include a shelter consisting of disorderly threads. These spiders frequently build their webs in woodpiles and sheds, closets, garages, plenum, cellars and other places that are dry and generally undisturbed. They seem to favor cardboard when dwelling in human residences, possibly because it mimics the rotting tree bark which they inhabit naturally. They also tend to be found in shoes, inside dressers, in bed sheets of infrequently used beds, in stacks of clothes, behind baseboards, behind pictures and near furnaces. The common source of human-recluse contact is during the cleaning of these spaces, when their isolated spaces are suddenly disturbed and the spider feels threatened. Unlike most web weavers, they leave these webs at night to hunt. Males will move around more when hunting with the female spiders tending to remain nearer to their webs.
That’s gay-ish.
Well, at least he was able to do that during the past 20 years.
Wow! What a marvelous act of G-d! Or two acts ... both are marvelous.
Mebbe that Brown Recluse wanted the chair all to himself. No matter what reason, I’m sure he’s thanking Him. And researchers should be looking into what’s in these Brown Recluse’s venom.
Great Mazinga??
The Ozarks in Missouri are a prime area for Brown Recluses. I got bit by one about 8 years ago. I was lucky and it left only a very small scar after my arm swelled up for about a week.
I think the 8 weeks of rehab was only after the spider bite “rebooted” his nervous system. 20 years of muscle atrophy will need rehab to get them working well again.
wonder what kind of spider.
I remember an asian woman at my kids grammar school who would walk to pick up the kids. on the way, she’d gather bees from plants she passed, and collect them in a plastic grocery bag. I asked her one day and she says it helps with her arthritis.
HMM, I’m allergic to bees. Made me nervous being around her with all those bees collected in her plasatic bag.
A bit less “teh ghey” than the other one posted.
Maybe it was a spider that got to Chris Matthews’ leg.
I wonder if anyone has experimented with spider venom
or other venom for nerve “awakening”
“I wonder if anyone has experimented with spider venom
or other venom for nerve “awakening””
You beat me! That was my question too....
Yeah, I think it is called socceeeeeeeeer!
a brown recluse holds more prmice than ESR
Spider Man is NOT gay!
A good reason to leave an unused bed unmade. BTW: “Making your bed” prevents drying of the bedding after it’s been slept in, leading to a higher population of dust mites. Always glad to strike a blow against compulsive neatness.
A mate of mine in Sydney is a recognized expert on Funnelweb Spiders, and has helped to classify a number of sub-species. Self-educated: when he’s not chasing spiders he’s a chippie who liks to surf and go fishing.
The male of the species is particularly aggressive during mating season.
Here in Auckand we have a Tunnelweb Spider: it too is aggressive, with a nasty bite, but non-toxic to humans.
Wow! God’s creation is awesome!
cute!
Gotta save this one too!
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