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“I see a flash of colors and the vague outlines of faces. I hear the voices of Mom and Dad as they talk to me, trying to get me to respond. Oh, God, I’m trying so hard to respond. I feel like I’m floating in a murky bubble with no control over my body and no ability to communicate my feelings. I hear my parents talking about my husband’s efforts to let me die, and I can’t state my objection. "I’ve listened to him talk to people about a statement I made many years ago when we were watching a...

On the six-month anniversary of the Baghdad rocket attack that left him paralyzed from the neck down, Lathan still exhibits the remarkably upbeat outlook that has helped the Omaha soldier move on in life... Lathan and his family met with reporters Tuesday at the Omaha VA Hospital, making his first public comments since arriving in his hometown from a Boston rehabilitation hospital two weeks ago. Suddenly, a man who once climbed mountains was unable to breathe on his own, pick up a spoon or hug his only son... "I think there are greater days ahead," said Lathan, his wife, Amy,...

Wheelchair-bound and recovering from an explosion that paralyzed him, Army Staff Sgt. Eugene "Gene" Simpson Jr. was joking and laughing heartily as nearly 100 people at American Legion Post 364 here expressed their appreciation for his heroic service in Iraq. The American Legion post and its auxiliary partnered with the Massachusetts- based "Homes for Our Troops" organization and threw a benefit dance for him Nov. 13 to raise money to build a handicapped-accessible house for the paralyzed veteran, his wife and their four young sons. The house will be outfitted with entry paths, ramps, wide doorways, lifts, modified bathroom facilities...

A South Korean woman paralyzed for 20 years is walking again after scientists say they repaired her damaged spine using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. Hwang Mi-Soon, 37, had been bedridden since damaging her back in an accident two decades ago. Last week her eyes glistened with tears as she walked again with the help of a walking frame at a press conference where South Korea researchers went public for the first time with the results of their stem-cell therapy. They said it was the world's first published case in which a patient with spinal cord injuries had...

getting kerry's goat john kerry lacks presidential temperamentWHY JOHN KERRY IS DANGEROUS FOR AMERICA by Mia T, 8.20.04 I do think that Senator Kerry losing his cool should not be an excuse for him to lash out at the president with false and baseless attacks. We've already said we weren't involved in any way in these ads. We've made that clear. White House spokesman Scott McClellan   Mr. McClellan needs to understand that John Kerry is not the type of leader who will sit and read 'My [sic] Pet Goat' to a group of second graders while America is...

Kerry, NOT Bush, paralyzed by 9/11 attacksHear Kerry admit he could not thinkWHY JOHN KERRY IS DANGEROUS FOR AMERICA by Mia T, 8.07.04   (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) johnkerryisdangerousforamerica.blogspot.com ATLANTA - Thursday Senator John Kerry criticized President Bush for his immediate reaction to the 9/11 attacks on America soon after Michael Moore's use of the footage in Fahrenheit 911. Addressing minority journalists in DC, Mr. Kerry said he would have moved into action much faster than the President on that morning. Kerry said, "Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dr. Miguel Nicolelis knew he had nailed it when the monkey stopped using her arm to play the computer game. An implanted device had allowed the monkey to control the game using only her thoughts, Nicolelis and colleagues report in the Public Library of Science Biology journal on Monday. And changes in the way the monkey's brain cells worked suggested the brain was physically adjusting to the device, they reported in the new online science journal. Nicolelis hopes the device will eventually allow paralyzed patients to regain some ability to use their upper bodies -- virtually, if...

In the latest science-fiction-come-to-life advance that may one day lead to the paralyzed being able to move at the drop of a thought, researchers have devised a system that enabled monkeys to control a computer cursor with their brain nearly as quickly as with their hands. The nerve system specialists from Brown University in Providence, R.I., implanted a tiny array of electrodes in three Rhesus monkeys to record, review and reconstitute the cerebral activity that controls hand movement. The animals responded by tailing a target around a computer screen with a cursor guided solely by their thoughts. The fantasy-fulfilling findings,...