Posted on 01/26/2015 3:07:48 PM PST by cva66snipe
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A Nashville teen went to bed one day last week and woke up the next morning paralyzed from the waist down.
Jessica Shainberg, 14, was experiencing tingling in her feet. Then, suddenly, she lost the use of her legs.
She was rushed to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and diagnosed with transverse myelitis, or inflammation of the spinal cord.
(Excerpt) Read more at wate.com ...
Oh, great! Gracias, Presidente Obama!
Transverse Myelitis is like having Polio minus the fever. My wife was hit with this 30 years ago and left her an incomplete quadriplegic. Onset was over a few hours. It sounds like they have this girl at Shepherds in Atlanta I hope she get’s a lot of her motor & never functions back. TM is a very destructive {believed to be am auto immune} virus.
Possibly. When the Physical Therapist checked my wife's limb measurements a few months after onset they said her limbs were typical for Polio at some point in her life. We think a mild undetected case that wasn't detected but did neurological damage. "IF" the poor kid has at some point came in contact with Polio that went undetected it might explain it.
BTW Transverse Myelitis itself IS NOT Contagious.
WOW...what a sad story...I’ll say a prayer or two!!! or three.
Prayers for the young lady’s health and healing.
Looking at the picture she’s got her arms back at least one anyway. For a week into it that’s very good. They gotta get on her rehab quick. The first six months determines about 90% of what she will get back in use.
Scary. I had a mild case of Polio as a child back in 1956 and it went undetected for a year.
Lifting her up in prayer!
My wife was born in 1950 when the Polio epidemic was still going. Both Polio and TM attack the Myelin Nerve Sheaths and are similar in damage done. I was with her when the TM hit. She walked into a local mall and collapsed. I carried her out to her car {we were on a date and hadn't married yet} and then went to the hospital under police lights and siren escort.
Some theories on TM link it to previous Polio virus or a virus variant but not contagious to others. I'm going on older info of the top of my head. In my wife's case her limbs showed up probably post Polio with issues such as short arms making transferring from a wheel chair impossible for her.
Back in 1985 Gillian Barre Syndrome was also showing up & was caused mainly by the Swine Flu Vaccine at that time. Her Neurologist kept asking her if she had taken any recent vaccines. He was also at a loss as to the cause of what had happened and he was one of the top notch docs in Knoxville. It took a year to get the Transverse Myelitis diagnoses and six months of hospital and rehab time. She got her arms and hands back about 75% usage. Her legs don't function. GBS hits the respiratory system while TM usually doesn't unless the damage is above C-4 level of the spine. My wife was hit at C-5 C-6 level.
Thanks for the info. Prayers for your wife. I too was born in 1950.
Our prayers are with Jessica.
My son was ~10 when he was struck with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM, also an auto-immune disease affecting the myelin sheath on the nerves. He was rapidly loosing his eyesight. The neurologist was going to treat him with MS meds after the steriods failed, but became familiar with a study that was being conducted that was using a chemo drug(Rituximab)that basically wiped out all acquired anti-bodies. The theory is that some auto-immune diseases are triggered by viruses, or possibly the order in which you contract them.
Short story: My son did the chemo treatments, and regained much of his eyesight, and is doing great now, with no treatments afterwards, other than re-doing certain vacinations. He is our miracle! We thank God every day!
I misread the article evidently this girl was hit a lot lower in the spine which is good because fewer things are compromised. They won't have to concentrate on all four limbs then either but can focus on trunk and legs.
Thanks for the prayers. Thirty years ago the live expectancy for many quads was just over five years. She's made it to almost her thirty year mark with God's help and real good doctors.
Thank you. I have no visible signs (shortened limbs, etc.) that I had Polio, but my back muscles were ruined and I had to have physical therapy from childhood through my teens. I had back surgery last year to alleviate some of the lifelong back pain I have endured.
The differences aren’t noticeable to the eye but rather to the measuring tape. Therapist like to measure Limbs. When one of her PT’s started measuring her arms and legs she was puzzled because none were consistent in proportion to what they should have been. They were trying to teach her to transfer from chair to bed and couldn’t figure out why her hands could not reach the board. That’s when they determined the previous Polio. Looking at her you couldn’t tell anything except she is 4’10”.
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