paraplegic

11 Stories

Space Sees Its First Wheelchair User

Paraplegic engineer becomes the first to experience weightlessness on Blue Origin flight

(Newser) - A paraplegic engineer from Germany blasted off on a dream-come-true rocket ride with five other passengers Saturday, reports the AP , leaving her wheelchair behind to float in space while beholding Earth from on high. Severely injured in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, Michaela Benthaus became the first wheelchair...

Court: Shooting Defendant Can End His Life Before Trial

Security guard shot during attack on colleagues is a paraplegic

(Newser) - A security guard charged in the shootings of colleagues and a police officer is within his rights to end his life before his trial begins, a court in Spain has ruled. Officials say Marin Eugen Sabau, 46, wounded three people at a security company in Tarragona in December, then a...

Man in Wheelchair Pulls Himself 800 Feet Up Skyscraper

Hong Kong man raised $700K for spinal cord patients

(Newser) - Lai Chi-wai is disappointed that he didn't finish his climb Saturday—but since he managed to climb most of the way up a 1,050-foot skyscraper in a wheelchair, raising more than $700,000 for charity in the process, most people consider it an incredible success. Lai was considered...

Pakistan Can't Hang Man Who Can't Stand

It's unclear if paraplegic Abdul Basit will face eventual execution

(Newser) - A man was given a last-minute stay of his execution in Pakistan today, not over concerns that the country is running "a conveyor belt of executions"—though that is a real criticism—but because Abdul Basit is unable to stand on the gallows. Basit, 43, acquired tubercular meningitis...

Pole Vaulting Accident Leaves Champ a Paraplegic

Kira Grunberg fell on her head and neck during a routine training jump

(Newser) - Pole vaulting can be an extremely dangerous sport , as a March Vice article made clear. How it summed the potential for catastrophe: "At 20 feet, a pole vault accident is like someone falling off the roof of their house, while running as fast at they can with a thick...

Paraplegic Vet Surprises Bride, Stands Up for First Dance

Sgt. Joey Johnson built device that let him ditch wheelchair to dance with Michelle

(Newser) - Michelle Johnson is a wedding planner outside of Indianapolis, but she had nothing to do with the biggest surprise at her own June wedding. Sgt. Joey Johnson—an Afghanistan war veteran who lost all feeling below his chest after a 2012 motorcycle accident just four months after he met Michelle—...

Paraplegics One Step Closer to Walking Again

FDA OKs ReWalk, which allows users to walk on their own

(Newser) - Walking paraplegics could soon be a common sight in American cities: The FDA has given the green light to the ReWalk system, a robotic exoskeleton that allows paralyzed people to stand up and walk on their own, reports the Los Angeles Times . The device—created by an Israeli inventor paralyzed...

We Can Now Do Human Head Transplants: Neuroscientist

Italian scientist says we have the technology

(Newser) - Scientists have been carrying out head transplants on animals since the 1970s, when a monkey's head was moved to another monkey's body; the resulting creature survived, paralyzed, for a few days. But so far, no one has attempted to put a human head on a different human body....

Paraplegic Survives Desert Stranding
Paraplegic Survives Desert Stranding
Oct 24, 2012 12:05 AM CDT

Paraplegic Survives Desert Stranding

He spent 3 days dragging himself 4 miles down NM road

(Newser) - A paraplegic man is recovering after being dumped on a desolate road in the New Mexico desert without his wheelchair. Ricky Gilmore says he spent three days dragging himself four miles down the road after a couple he met while hitchhiking tossed him out of their vehicle when he declined...

Paralyzed Rats Taught to to Walk Again


 Paralyzed 
 Rats Taught 
 to Walk Again 
in case you missed it
Jun 3, 2012 7:08 AM CDT

Paralyzed Rats Taught to Walk Again

New treatment helps brain regain control over limbs

(Newser) - If results from new research involving rats can be replicated in humans, up to a third of America's wheelchairs may end up as scrap metal. Swiss scientists have taught rats with hind-leg paralysis caused by a spinal cord injury to walk and even run in just weeks, using a...

Paraplegic Walks With Electrode Treatment

Spinal cord treatment awakens damaged nervous system

(Newser) - A young man paralyzed from the chest down after a car accident 5 years ago has become the first person with his condition ever to stand up. Rob Summers, 25, can stand, move his hips, and even take a few steps thanks to an experimental treatment that involves stimulation of...

11 Stories
Most Read on Newser