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The John Robinson Story

Even though he stands just 3-foot-9, was born without hands and has short legs with no knees, all of his life John Robinson strived to be thought of as just another fellow. He built a life, with a regular-guy family and a regular-guy job, never wanting to think of himself as exceptional or for others to think of him that way.

"Get Off Your Knees: The John Robinson Story," an hourlong documentary that Swinton produced, directed, edited and helped shoot. It premieres at 8 tonight on WMHT-TV Ch. 17, with an encore at 7 p.m. Sunday. The program also will be offered to stations nationwide through American Public Television, and a DVD version is available. A book with a similar title, "Get Off Your Knees: A Story of Faith, Courage, and Determination," co-written by Robinson and golf writer Dave Allen, has been published by Syracuse University Press.

Treadmills and Amputation

In the aftermath of the death of Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter, who died Tuesday after becoming entangled in a treadmill cord, it may seem redundant to point out the need for safety when kids are around exercise equipment.

The reality of the situation, however, is that almost 5,500 children under age 5 were treated in emergency rooms in 2006 and 2007 for treadmill-related injuries, according to statistics from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Diane C. Lade, of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reports that most of the injuries were cuts, bruises and scrapes, primarily on the hands or fingers. One child's injury, however, required an amputation. Thirty-two percent had their hands caught in or on the treadmill, in some cases suffering serious friction burns.

In the tragic example of Tyson's daughter, Exodus, the Associated Press reported that a cord was hanging from the console of the treadmill, and the young girl either slipped or put her head in the loop, which then tightened.

Lade offers the following steps to prevent home exercise equipment accidents in your own home:

1. Do not allow children on or near exercise equipment when it's in use.

2. When not using a machine, unplug it or keep it in a locked room.

3. Do not put furniture near windows, where children could climb up to get to vertical blind cords.

4. Mount cords at least 5 feet above the floor, if possible, where youngsters can't reach them.

5. Do not tie loops in a cord, instead use a device to tie it to the sill.

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Do you get a free iTunes download with that arm?

Advanced Arm Dynamics new "Reverb Arm" on YouTube

Prescription Maggots

I love the title of the following U.S. News and World Reports blog posting. How could you not? It absolutely gets your attention. Effective treatment for leg ulcers.



Maggot Therapy: How to Find a Doctor Who Will Prescribe Maggots

Almost a decade has passed since maggots averted the amputation of Pam Mitchell's left foot, and the Akron resident still sounds tremendously grateful. In her case, maggot therapy accomplished something that modern medicine—specifically, three courses of antibiotics—was unable to do: Defeat a dangerous and persistent bone infection and heal the deep, open wounds that had developed on both of her feet.

Foot ulcers are a common complication of diabetes, which Mitchell, now in her 50s, has had since the age of 10. In the hospital where she was being treated, "they told me I had to have my foot amputated, that it would never heal," she says. "It's been healed for 9 years. I barely have a scar."

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Neuros Medical launches to develop new device to block amputee, chronic pain

A Cleveland start-up is developing a high-frequency neurostimulation device to solve untreated amputee pain with the hope it can supplant drugs for all chronic pain.

Neuros Medical incorporated in October and on Monday closed on $375,000 in funding from JumpStart and Case Technology Ventures, according to a press release (pdf). The company uses research supported by more than $3.1 million in state and federal research grants to Case Western Reserve University, MetroHealth Medical Center and the Cleveland FES (Functional Electrical Stimulation) Center.

Terre Haute man battles back after brown recluse spider bite

TERRE HAUTE — A fear of spiders doesn’t seem so irrational after talking with Farris Shahadey.

Bitten on the right ankle by a brown recluse spider in August 2004, Shahadey’s battle with the ensuing illness brought a victory Tuesday with a new prosthetic leg.

“I just got it yesterday,” he said Wednesday afternoon, sitting on a couch in his living room. “I’ve been on this couch for four years,” he said, noting that he can finally stand and walk now with some assistance, something he’s been unable to do since 2004.

“It affected my whole life. I contemplated suicide,” the 55-year-old husband and father of three said.

The brown recluse, also known as a fiddleback spider, has a distinctive violin-shaped marking on its back and belongs to the Sicariidae family of arachnids.

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The greatest casualty is being forgotten.

Watch this.

Schuss

Adaptive skiing gets everyone moving

By Emily Salmon Staff writer

You've probably seen them on the occasional TV program -- amputee skiers effortlessly shussing (sic)  down the slopes on a single ski or quadriplegics with the wind blowing through their hair while they're ensconced in sit-skis.

But you may never have thought you could see them here in Mercersburg.

Programs for the disabled have always seemed remote and sophisticated, something that only big cities and big budgets would have to offer -- not up in the mountains of the small towns near Chambersburg.

For the second season in a row, however, Bill Dietrich at Whitetail Resort is changing that.

Dietrich is executive director of Two Top Mountain Adaptive Sports Foundation, the nonprofit organization that provides adaptive skiing at Whitetail.

With the help of some specialized equipment, Dietrich's program teaches not only those in wheelchairs but also skiers with ADHD, autism and blindness...

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Qantas Gets a Gold Medal in Buzz Killing

Congratulations Christine! Thumbs up.

Boo Qantas.  Thumbs down.

From the CanberraTimes.com

ACT paralympian Christine Wolf's return home yesterday was soured when staff on her flight from
Sydney refused to allow the gold medallist to take her prosthetic legs as carry-on luggage.

Wolf whose left leg is amputated above the knee was already on the plane from Sydney to Canberra when the Qantas attendant refused to allow her to bring the valuable prosthetics into the cabin. Australian coach Iryna Dvoskina, who travelled back to Canberra with Ms Wolf yesterday, said she would make a formal complaint.

''[The prosthetics] are just so sensitive, we never check it into luggage, we take it on the plane all the time and now, on our last flight after two months away and we are just very happy to be home, it was just so unhelpful and unfriendly,'' Ms Dvoskina said.... READ MORE

Outcomes at the Center for the Intrepid - better than anyone expected.

Army Staff Sgt. Chad Jukes, a 23-year-old from Logan, Utah, talks about his prosthetic legs the way some men talk about the cars they drive or dream of owning.

He has one model for walking. It features a foot very similar to the one he lost as a soldier in Iraq. Another, designed for hiking, has a flexible black rubber disc on the end. A third ends in a foot that looks like it should belong to a small child. That variation gives him the rigidity he needs for rock-climbing....READ MORE

According to a study in the Dec. 9, 2004, New England Journal of Medicine, in World War II 30% of those who were injured died, compared with 10% of those hurt in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recent statistics from the Dept. of Defense suggest that the number is hovering at 13%.

As of May 1, 748 of those injured had lost at least one limb. Burns, vision loss and damaged hearing also are prevalent. Traumatic brain injuries mean that some need to relearn how to read and write.

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