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A Texas children's hospital is working with the University of Texas' Medical School in a unique clinical trial using bone marrow stem cells to treat children's brain trauma. This trial, which does not involve ethically problematic and controversial embryonic stem cells, is the first to use stem cells in the treatment of traumatic brain injury, for which there is currently no reparative therapy. Dr. James Baumgartner, M.D., is an associate professor of pediatric neurosurgery and one of the principal investigators on the project. He says this procedure will be "an absolutely novel treatment, the first ever with potential to repair...

GRESHAM, Oregon October 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A young boy, who had previously been diagnosed as being in a “permanent vegetative state,” has awakened from a 22 month-long coma and is breathing on his own.Devon Rivers collapsed in a seizure during a phys-ed class in 2004 and his condition was never explained, though some doctors suggested it was caused by an unknown viral infection. Doctors agreed, however, that he had little hope of recovery. His mother, Carla Rivers, visited him regularly and, in addition to physical therapy by his paediatric nursing home to keep his limbs supple, she talked...

MELBOURNE, Australia, October 5, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Patients designated as in a “persistent vegetative state (PVS)” should be used for medical experiments, according to several top bioethicists, regardless of whether or not prior consent was obtained.Several articles published in the recent issue of the Journal of Medical debated the potential use of patients with non-responsive brain function for such medical experiments as animal organ transplants—to bypass ethic prohibitions against using a living human being for medical experimentation, some even suggested designating such patients as “dead,” saying their cognitive impairments justified treating them as cadavers.Dr. John Shea, medical advisor to...

ROME, September 15, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new case-study raises more doubts about the ethical determination of “brain-death”, since researchers discovered that a patient suffering from a “persistent vegetative state” (PVS) demonstrated similar brain activity to healthy conscious individuals according to Zenit news. Under the leadership of neuroscientist Dr. Adrian Owen, the team of scientists from Cambridge University and the Belgian University of Liège applied MRI technology to discover that the brain activity of a PVS patient indicated she was “consciously aware of herself and her surroundings.” In their experiment, the researchers gave oral commands to a 23-year-old comatose Englishwoman,...

The Senate is close to meeting the military brain-injury challenge it nearly failed. Three weeks ago, lawmakers drew fire for trying to halve the budget of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center by leaving $7 million out of this year's appropriations bill... Thankfully, the cut is being corrected thanks to Sen. George Allen's amendment this week. Allen stepped up Tuesday with a measure to reverse the funding cut and increas[e] the center's budget to $19 million. The measure passed by unanimous consent [and] is expected to reach the floor later this month. ... We spoke this week with the...

Doctors have their first proof that a man who was barely conscious for nearly 20 years regained speech and movement because his brain spontaneously rewired itself by growing tiny new nerve connections to replace the ones sheared apart in a car crash. Terry Wallis, 42, is one of the few people known to have recovered so dramatically so long after a serious brain injury. He still needs help eating and cannot walk, but his speech continues to improve and he can count to 25 without interruption.

Many of you replied when I originally posted my husband's horrible hospital odyssey of several months ago. Things were going okay in the Catholic hospital, until my husband knocked out his trach in his sleep. The alarm didn't go off. My husband can breathe on his own, and the ventilator was giving him some small support. His heart stopped. They resuscitated him, and he's been in a twilight since. The dr. he has has given up on him - this has only been a week. My husband IS starting to respond and focus, but the dr. doesn't care. He's pressuring...

DULUTH, Minn. -- A retired police officer and youth hockey coach was critically injured by a hockey puck Saturday during a father-son game. Dennin Bauers, 52, was struck behind the left ear by a puck at around 9:30 a.m., when about 20 high school players - mostly from Duluth Central High School -- took on their fathers at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. He was wearing a helmet, but collapsed and was taken to the hospital. He remained in critical condition Sunday afternoon at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, according to the hospital's intensive care unit. "He's in bad, bad...

(KUTV) An incredible and un-suspecting accident leaves a Utah Boy Scout just inches from death when he was stabbed right between his eyes. Jeff Jaeger spoke to Kevin Coulter and tells 2News how this was a truly freak accident. While raking leaves for a Boy Scout event, one of the leaders flung a knife from his hand while trying to catch another scout who had tripped. “It was dark, it was like 8:30 and there was a light and I saw it flash before it hit me,” said Kevin. The blade landed in between his frontal lobes. It was 2...

"[There's] no real support system for a trauma, for a life-threatening immediate incident that takes place. That throws your whole life into a tailspin," said Tracy East. East is another mom who camped at her injured child's bedside day and night. She realized there isn't anything to get parents through this.

For 20 years, Sarah Scantlin was seemingly unaware of the world around her after she was hit by a drunk driver in an accident that sent her into a comatose state in September of 1984. Then in February, she shocked her parents and doctors when she began to speak. In her first national television interview, after undergoing surgery on her long-unused limbs and speech therapy to unlock her long-dormant tongue, Scantlin speaks with The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith in a two-part interview to be broadcast Thursday and Friday. Smith also speaks with Sarah's parents, Jim and Betsy Scantlin,...

It's a new world' Sarah Scantlin making gains in regaining control of her arms in infinitesimal increments By Clara Kilbourn The balls of gauze that protected Sarah Scantlin's feet for two decades have been traded in for a pair of high-top sneakers. A welcome spot of breakfast lingers on her T-shirt, and she smiles when her mother, Betsy Scantlin, talks about Sarah's newfound fondness for Zingers and French fries. "Where's the catsup?" Sarah asked when the French fries were served, Betsy said. In the six months since she spoke her first "OK" - after 20 years of no verbal communication,...

No Explanation for NYC Firefighter's Stunning Recovery From Brain Injury Nearly 10 Years' Later =========================================================== NEW YORK May 3, 2005 — Nearly 10 years after a brain injury left a firefighter virtually mute, he suddenly started talking to his wife and sons last weekend. A couple of years ago, it happened with a severely injured car accident victim who'd spent 19 years in silence. And before that, a paralyzed policeman whose brain had been damaged in a shooting suddenly regained his speech after eight years. Normally, brain-injured patients who get better do so within the first five years, especially in...

When Sandy Burke looks at Terri Schiavo, she sees her son. Fifteen years after his car crashed into a tree, Richard Burke hovers between what doctors say is a persistent vegetative state and minimal consciousness. He sits propped in a wheelchair during the day, his face largely blank, his eyes flickering open and shut. At 43, he relies on others for every need. When his mother speaks to him, he sometimes turns his eyes in her direction and smiles or offers a thumbs up or down. Sometimes, he doesn't. No one knows how much he understands. A few years ago,...

(From HOLY KARBALA) - People witnessed on Sunday 28 November, 2004, a miracle of grandson of holy Prophet Muhammad bin Abdullah (p), Chief of Martyrs Al-Imam Al-Hussein bin Ali bin Abi Talib (p), in favor of a young renowned Husseini dirge-chanter Ghassan Al-Karbalayi. According to details, Ghassan Al-Karbalayi, born in Baghdad, had been serving the Husseini pulpit in Iran, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria and many other countries until the day he faced a road accident two years ago at a road from Tehran to Isfahan while returning from Kuwait after observing and reciting dirges there to mark Arbaeen Al-Husseini, or...

Judge George Greer ruled that the State of Florida has no right to take custody of Terri Schiavo, which ruling came hours after an appeal by Terri's parents to re-insert the feeding tube was refused by the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, another hearing was scheduled tonight before US District Judge James D. Whittemore .. the same judge who previously heard and denied the request subsequent to the 'de novo' intention of the law past last weekend by the Congress and signed by President Bush, in an effort to confirm that no stone was left unturned before Terri would endure legally...

STARVATION: DAY 8 Jeb Bush not likely to ride to rescue Florida governor indicates he won't defy court order Posted: March 25, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Those hoping Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will step forward to save Terri Schiavo from imminent, court-ordered starvation death are likely to be disappointed, based on his comments to a group of reporters following county court Judge George Greer's ruling against the state's effort to take custody of the brain-injured woman at the center of a worldwide euthanasia controversy. While Bush reiterated his motivation to save Schiavo, based on new evidence that...

Non Embryonic Stem Cell Treatment Allows Paralysed Brazilian To Walk, Talk Again RIO DE JANEIRO, November 23, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Brazilian scientists have successfully transplanted adult stem cells into a woman's brain, facilitating her recovery from a brain hemorrhage that left her paralysed and unable to talk. Maria da Graca Pomeceno, 54, had bone marrow stem cells taken from her pelvis and injected into her damaged brain. Local television broadcasts showed her walking up stairs and talking. Hans Fernando Dohmann, director of Rio's Pro-Cardiaco Hospital, said that hers was the first reported successful treatment of this condition, but that trials...