I am a former Marine Raider working to create change as an Entrepreneur in the Medical Device Industry. After I was shot and paralyzed while serving in Afghanistan, I have dedicated my life to four things: Medical Technology Innovation - Leveraging advanced technology to create meaningful products that improve people's lives. Questioning assumptions and taking action to test the boundaries of what is possible. Veterans Advocacy and Non-Profit Leadership - Creating positive shifts as a leader for non-profit organizations. Giving back to the communities that have given me so much. Public Speaking - Arming teams and individuals with the foundations of resilience and adaptability. Empowering groups to push past their perceived barriers through unity of action and shared awareness. Relationships - Investing time and effort to build and maintain critical relationships with so many people who have supported me at every stage of my journey. Living every day to honor my family, friends, neighbors, and so many amazing people that I am indebted to.

MARINE RAIDER FOUNDATION

The Marine Raider Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides benevolent support to active duty and medically retired MARSOC Raiders and their families, as well as to the families of Raiders who have lost their lives in service to our Nation. Since standing up in May of 2012, the Marine Raider Foundation has provided over $4 million in support to MARSOC Marines, Sailors and their families. The Foundation aims to meet needs unmet by the government with an emphasis on building personal and family resiliency and supporting the full reintegration of MARSOC personnel following wounds, injuries and extended deployments. The Marine Raider Foundation’s four main programs are: · Raider Support, including transition assistance, funding for award ceremonies and receptions, and funding for events that focus on personal and professional resiliency; · Family Resiliency Support, including assisting Raider families experiencing health and welfare challenges and with events that enhance personal and family resiliency; · Tragedy Assistance & Survivor Support, including assistance for wounded, ill and injured Raiders, Gold Star Families and funeral services and commemorations for MARSOC personnel; · Raider Legacy & Preservation Support, including construction and upkeep of memorial structures and commemorative items, as well as funding for events that commemorate WWII and MARSOC Raiders.

Assisting MARSOC personnel who are injured or wounded in combat, contingency operations, or training with special needs by funding advanced rehabilitation, operational health and performance programs and equipment, and advanced vocational training

Assisting the families of MARSOC personnel dealing with health and welfare challenges

Honoring those who have fallen by supporting funeral services and commemorations for MARSOC personnel, travel costs to funeral services and commemorations not covered by the Department of Defense, and construction and upkeep of memorials

Supporting programs and activities that enhance resiliency for the service member and family, including support during the transition process and with reintegration following combat and contingency operations

AMERICAN TECHNION SOCIETY

The American Technion Society supports the growth and success of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, a global innovation powerhouse. Our investments in the Technion’s research, education, and innovation efforts advance critical breakthroughs that benefit the State of Israel and the global good.

With headquarters in New York City and offices around the United States, we are donors, alumni, and stakeholders who believe that when the Technion is strong, Israel is strong — and our world is a better place. We fund scholarships, research, labs, and facilities that have helped produce world-changing contributions and supported Technion for decades.

MVP VETS

Transitioning active-duty service members and honorably discharged military veterans.

MVPvets is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that assists and prepares transitioning service members and military veterans for meaningful employment in medical device and life science companies. MVPvets’ network has grown to nearly 100 life science and medical device companies, hundreds of mentors, and thousands of veterans.

MVPvets is endorsed by the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed).

TECHnology FOR PARALySIS

DISCLAIMER

I have learned a bit about some of the medical aspects associated with being paralyzed, but am not a medical professional. I have provided my thoughts and secondary research in an attempt to help others benefit from the experiences I have had. Please take this information as a data point and not medical advice. Consult your medical professionals to receive advice regarding your personal situation as the information I have provided was isolated to my own personal situation.

That being said – I am happy to assist in any way I can for anyone going through some of the very difficult trials that I have also endured. Please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to refer you to someone who may be able to assist you with your personal medical situation.

-DEREK HERRERA

VIDEOS

ExoSkeleton

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

REWALK VS ESKO

I have advocated for the proliferation of this technology now for some time, and it has truly made a difference in my life. There are currently two companies that have working products available for purchase by clinics, one made by Argo Medical Technologies called the ReWalk and one made by Ekso Bionics called the Ekso. I had the opportunityto test-drive both of these products before I made a decision to purchase the ReWalk. The video below shows some of the differences between the two devices as they are pictured side by side.

Derek Herrera EXOSkeleton Pull-ups

The key considerations that led me to choose the ReWalk was that it was specifically designed for personal use. It is currently approved for personal use in Europe and Israel, and in the near future hopefully, will obtain approval from the FDA for personal use in the USA. Because this was the primary objective of the engineers who designed the device, it is very practical and has many useful features that are beneficial for individuals.

ReWalk Exoskeleton Technion Alumni Innovation

The key performance benefits of the ReWalk that I desired in an exoskeleton are:

Faster top speed – The ReWalk can travel at speeds nearly 2.5-3 times faster than the Ekso. Ekso places a priority on stepping vice walking.

Better ability to turn – Because the ReWalk uses inserts to the users shoes and the Ekso uses a platform underneath a shoe, the ReWalk is easier to make turns in once the user learns the proper turning procedure.

Desirable gait pattern – Ekso has done a lot of research and believes that their gait pattern is superior to the ReWalk, but I just really like the way the ReWalk walks. It is less stepping and placing the foot and more of what I believe to be a natural walking pattern.

Both devices are incredible machines and feats of engineering, and I hope that they continue to stay in business to make each other better, but for me the ReWalk was the machine I chose to purchase.

PARALYSIS resources

Derek-Herrera-Bullet-Spinal-Cord-Injury-Bethesda-2560-2-@2x-2560x1200.jpg — HETEROTOPIC OSSIFICATION

Those of you that followed my recovery have probably heard how my Heterotopic Ossification has turned out. Since I am still dealing with it I think it would help others out to learn from my experience. This story is a not short, but I found that there is still very little information about personal experiences with HO online in SCI forums and websites. Everyone’s experience is different, and mine is certainly unique, so please read this if you or someone you know someone who is suffering from HO. This is not clinical research, but having been through the process as a patient I have learned, the hard way, many of the questions that need to be asked and how to go about dealing with this ailment.
Heterotopic Ossification is the spontaneous formation of bones in tissue where bones normally do not grow. This most often occurs as a response to Spinal Cord Injury and Amputation of a limb/limbs. In amputees it often forms near the injury site and in paralyzed individuals it occurs most often in the hip joint and sometimes in the knee joint. The bone that forms is often spongy and not as dense as the other bones in the body. For this reason it will almost never be visible from conventional X-Ray imaging, but can be detected with CT scans. Usually, if a medical professional notices this on your imaging then you are probably already experiencing other symptoms related to the disease, including hardness where the growth occurs, limited range of motion or abnormal popping noises when attempting to conduct range of motion exercises, and elevated lab results (specifically Alkaline Phosphotase).
In hindsight, my HO probably started within the first week after I was injured. After my wife was taught how to stretch my legs we started noticing abnormal popping noises in my hip and then increased range of motion after the pop. To this day I still have the same pop in my right hip and then an increased range of motion after the pop. The doctors at the first hospital I went to didn’t seem concerned with the popping noise at all. Once we transferred to a hospital with a large SCI rehabilitation facility the doctors identified an abnormally high result on my labs for Alkaline Phosphotase, and became concerned, but still did not mention HO until a couple of weeks after I had been a patient at the hospital, and after I read the Wikipedia article that mentioned the symptom of elevated lab results that I shared with my doctors. They then took images and found that I had bony matrix growing on the front of my hips from the top of my hip crest all the way to a point 4” down my femur. Essentially, I had a new set of hips in addition to my original ones.
My labs started to normalize and the doctors put me on drugs to help stop/slow the growth of the bony matrix. The drugs were very problematic, since I was supposed to take 4 pills in the morning and evening, but not eat anything 2 hours before or after each dose. This proved to be more difficult than I expected during the 12 week course of treatment. At this point I also found that treating HO with radiation therapy was only successful in preventing the formation of the bony matrix. I was left with what I had and told that after a year or so the matrix would stabilize and, if I was willing, could pursue the surgical removal of the bones. For the time being I had to deal with the extra bones in my hips. The bones prevented me from reaching hip extension beyond 85-90 degrees, which proved to be a significant issue for a new wheelchair user, and increased the level of muscle tone and spasticity in my legs. I wanted to get surgery as soon as possible.
Once I was six months post injury I started meeting with doctors and surgeons to see who would be willing to remove the bones from my hips. I found doctors willing to perform the surgery, but only for functional gains and increased quality of life. Every surgeon I spoke to gave me a litany of issues that would likely arise from the removal of the hip bones. The risks they mentioned included a high probability of infection, a high loss of blood that may require a blood transfusion, a high likelihood that the bones would return and could come back worse than they were originally, and the fact that to fill the void left where my bones were could require a skin/muscle graft. I agreed regardless, and believed that the increased range of motion would be well worth the potential risks.
I had the surgery, and the doctor removed a significant amount of bone that was intertwined with my Sartorius, which I no longer have in my left leg. When the doctor was complete with the surgery I had a significant improvement in range of motion, nearly120/125 degrees. This increase made my life much easier, whether I was pushing my wheelchair, picking something up off of the floor, or transferring. The day after surgery I received a small dose of radiation in my left hip that would increase my chances of preventing the bone from coming back. The Orthopedic Surgeon said “it wasn’t if, but when the bones would return,” but the Radiologist stated that, in his experience, with radiation treatment there was a 80-90% success rate at preventing regrowth.
When I followed up with my Orthopedic Surgeon the week after the surgery things seemed to be going alright. Everything had healed except for a small pinhole in my leg. He poked the hole with a Q-Tip to see how for the hole went and it went all the way down to my femur. This cavity was continuously filling with scirrus fluid and blood and expressing itself through the small hole. The doctor said there was a 50/50 chance that it would heal properly and that we would give it a chance before going back in to repeat the closure surgery.
Six weeks later I began experiencing violent symptoms of infection, including fevers, chills, increased drainage, redness around the site, general malaise and weakness. I went back into the hospital where they confirmed that it was infected and immediately put me into surgery. I spent a week in the hospital and had three irrigation and debridement surgeries. I left the hospital and had a Wound Vacuum Assisted Closure (V.A.C.) to help the wound heal. Two weeks after leaving the hospital I went back in to get the wound surgically closed. It was closed over suction drains, to assist with the drainage, and then I returned home. A week or so later I noticed issues with the suction and drainage from the wound. It wasn’t closing and there was a small hole similar to the one I had before my infection. The doctor restitched it and gave it one more try. It still didn’t close properly and then we went back to surgery with a plastic surgeon to allow him to weigh in with regards to skin/muscle grafts as a method of closure. The Plastic Surgeon suggested a couple of months with the Wound VAC to see if it would close the wound. A week after he placed the VAC I told him the numbers I had for drainage and he suggested I go to a non-military hospital where they have more experience in dealing with surgical wounds that go awry, like this one did. It seemed that the main issue was that the bones removed were so close to my hip joint that joint fluid was constantly leaking from the hip joint.
Luckily, the strand of staph infection I had was not MRSA or VRSA, and was relatively easy to treat. I took IV antibiotics, for nearly four months after the infection was diagnosed, and transitioned to oral antibiotics for another three months to ensure that the infection did not get into my bones that were so close to the surgical site.
I was lucky enough to be seen and treated by some of the best surgeons at UCLA, one of the best teaching hospitals in the country, and after one surgery the wound closed properly over drains. After a period of a few months the drains stopped draining to the point where they could be removed, and the wound was healed. This was quite an ordeal (lasting around 8 months with the antibiotic treatment), but regardless of the complications I really enjoy the benefits and would certainly do it again. If I knew what I knew now though I would probably schedule three months off of work instead of two days. I also had initially planned to have the surgery on my right hip but after doing range of motion exercises and stretching (and a few bony pops) the right hip has an almost normal range of motion. At some point I may look to have the surgery but for now am enjoying my time spent outside of the hospital
The most thorough ‘scholarly’ article I found regarding HO was on Wikipedia. Someone did a very good job editing this article and included many current references regarding the ailment. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this article until about a month after I noticed the signs of HO in my body.
In summary, if you know anyone that is newly paralyzed or an amputee, I highly suggest you refer them to some of the reference materials regarding this condition. Every situation is different, but I can certainly tell you from my experience that early prevention of this condition is much easier than getting rid of it once the bony matrices have settled. Finding a good surgeon to do this surgery is very difficult and you should ask very pointed, sometimes uncomfortable, questions including:
***-How many times have you done this surgery?***
***-Are there clients you have done this operation on that I can contact?***
***-Is this hospital equipped with advanced surgeons who can assist if there are complications with my surgery?***
Many doctors and surgeons have never heard of this condition before. The first Orthopedic Surgeon I saw about this issue asked me “Heterotopic Ossification? What is that?” followed by “Can we even do that surgery here?” after my explanation of the condition. No matter how you look at this condition, it is very serious and life-changing for individuals already dealing with catastrophic injuries. My advice to everyone at risk is to prevent it before it starts and to do as much research as you possibly can to understand the potential courses of treatment before going under the knife.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Derek-Herrera-Shaggy-Service-Dog-2560-2-%402x.jpg — SERVICE ANIMALS

People often ask me about Shaggy, my service dog, and about how he helps me on a day-to-day basis, and how I have been able to incorporate him into my daily life. I have learned a little bit about service animals and a lot of the administrative/legal regulations regarding their use.
I received Shaggy from a small organization in Palm Beach, Florida, that I was introduced to through some friends I met attending a weekend retreat with The Renewal Coalition. The organization is called Canines Assisting Military Veterans Organization (C.A.M.O.) and is run by Casey DeGeorge and Michael Lorraine. They rescue dogs and train them to serve wounded veterans. I can’t say enough positive things about this organization, but they were truly incredible to work with and significantly aided in my recovery/rehabilitation.
Maura and I have always loved dogs and have had pets since we started dating. Shortly after we got married, we rescued an American Bulldog named Murphy, after we were up late one night watching a show called “Animal Cops” that documents animal cruelty and the individuals who catch and prosecute such crimes. As cliché as it sounds, it was after viewing the long commercial for the SPCA that featured a sad song by Sarah MacLachlan when Maura and I looked at each other and decided we should rescue a dog. We decided the dog should be calm, not get up when we came home, and one that no one else was going to rescue. Within a week we found Murphy at the Fredericksburg SPCA, and she certainly met our criteria. She was old, extremely calm and ugly (she had scars from fly bites all over her tail, burns on her hind legs from being left outside on concrete all day, and almost no teeth because she was so hungry she ate rocks) and we brought her home the next day. She had a good few years before she passed a month into my first deployment.
We got another American Bulldog, Murphy II, when I got back from deployment. She was a puppy and was a good addition to the family until she attacked our other dog Abner and almost killed him. We gave her to a family where she could be the only pet, since she could no longer be a part of our family.
When I was injured and began my recovery, I tried to maintain an attitude where I refused to embrace any help or things that might mean that my injuries were permanent. I have always been a stubborn person, and I stubbornly opposed things like electric wheelchairs, minivans, home modifications and service dogs. Eventually I relented and realized that my opposition to such things would not aid in my recovery. It was shortly after that time when I was introduced to Mike Lorraine and offered a service dog that could help me in my daily life.
I worked with Mike, and Shaggy, for a period of two weeks learning how to utilize his skills and incorporate him into my daily routine. Shaggy can retrieve items and bring them to me and hit light switches/elevator buttons among other things. It doesn’t sound like much, but it certainly has helped in situations where my keys have fallen underneath my car, or the wheel to my wheelchair has fallen just out of my reach while getting out of the car. I probably could have waited until someone walked by and flagged them down for help, but Shaggy helped out without missing a beat.
Besides retrieving things for me, Shaggy also helps out psychologically and emotionally. Often, I get a lot of stares and weird looks when I am out in public. Kids are curious, as they don’t encounter people in wheelchairs often. Adults often have other reasons for staring at me. Some have told me that I don’t look like I belong in a wheelchair, which I have learned to take as a compliment (kind of), while others just blankly stare and continue walking towards me unaware that I can’t get out of their way and that I use the cutouts instead of jumping up curbs. I recently have gotten a lot of angry stares when I pull into the handicapped parking spot, because most people just assume I am some young punk with a sense of entitlement, until I get out of the car. Shaggy helps in this respect because he receives the awkward stares instead of me. I have a feeling he doesn’t like them either, but people quickly transition from the awkward stare to intrigue, as Shaggy uses his charm to disarm them. I know it sounds weird, but traveling in any crowded public area usually heightens my anxiety level and produces unnecessary stress. I generally have a limit as to how many awkward stares I can tolerate in a given day, and Shaggy has really assisted me in this manner.

**Rules/Regulations:**
I am by no means a lawyer, but have researched some of the Federal regulations regarding service animals and their use. Mainly, this is covered in sections of the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Air Carrier Access act, and the Fair Housing Act. There are also state and local laws that apply to service animals. The best snapshot regarding Federal regulations I have found is located on the ADA website.
Ultimately, the service animal is allowed to go wherever the disabled person is allowed to go. There is no requirement for them to be marked or distinguished with a vest or collar, although most owners do so just to avoid unnecessary confrontation. There is also NO requirement to register them with any federal agency. There are some groups that are lobbying for a national database to provide legitimate verification that your animal is a “qualified” service animal, but just like anything the government controls, there would be inherent discrepancies and difficulties with enacting such a database. Mainly, the broad range of different tasks service animals can provide leads to very different definitions people have regarding service animals. This was recently captured best by a group fighting for the VA **NOT** to pay to provide guide dogs to service members that are blind. Initially, I thought they were crazy, but they explained that the variance in training and certification would lead to a high degree of corruption. Some trainers think they can work with a dog for six weeks, advertise it as a service dog, and charge $35,000 for the animal. Others, like Shaggy, was trained for a minimum of two hours daily for nearly 18 months. Additionally, they explained that the current model works, and that there are numerous organizations that will donate competent service animals to wounded veterans.
The service animal is allowed to go to hotels and on planes for free, and this often tempts some individuals to pretend their pets are service animals to avoid the increasing costs of traveling with your pets. The negative side to the lack of regulation with these animals is that there are a few that have behaved poorly, doing things like biting people or demonstrating they are not housebroken, and have created a general aversion to all service animals as a whole. I am a proponent for the current model, with very limited regulation, and think that the industry and its professionals will police their own much better than the government-regulated system could. People are also not allowed to discriminate against animals and are only allowed to conduct a limited inquiry, asking if the animal is required due to a disability. They also are allowed to refuse access to an animal if they show that they are out of control and the handler fails to bring the animal under control, or if they are not housebroken.

**Training/Selecting an animal**
The type of animal the person selects should be based on their disability and how the animal can best fill the gaps in that person’s ability to live independently. Different capabilities are valued accordingly, and training with the animal should work to mirror the requirements identified. For example, Shaggy is trained to work without a leash, in fact, the first time Maura tried to walk him with a leash he quickly escaped and took her for a quick jog through the neighborhood. I placed a high value on getting a dog that could work without a leash because wheeling around with an animal tethered to my chair may have hindered my mobility. Other individuals enjoy working with dogs on leash because they can then use the animal to pull them if they need assistance in getting around.
In my research I also came across other types of service animals that I found interesting, including service monkeys and service miniature horses. They seem like they also have their place in helping people but I couldn’t be happier with Shaggy and would certainly choose him over any other service animal if I were in that position again.

STEM CELLS

Since I’ve been injured I’ve done a bit of research into the latest trends in the Stem Cell environment with regards to Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). When I was first injured about a year ago I was at a point in my recovery where I would volunteer for any kind of therapy that had a chance of increasing my quality of life. I even sent some of my records to Stem Cell surgeons in other countries to apply for clinical trials and treatment. Luckily, I did not have any procedures done, knowing what I know now.
My first experience with any stem cell organization was an information session at Project WALK Orlando with Dr. Zannos Grekos in Florida. Ironically enough, it was my OCD that kicked in when he was giving a PowerPoint presentation that just seemed subpar to me. There weren’t any factual errors, but it was just one of those presentations that left me thinking “Man, I could really help them make that PowerPoint presentation better…” – basic issues like background/font color combinations, improperly indented bullets and video links that didn’t work. Anyways, after the good doctor was done explaining the procedures that he revolutionized, and how he was a cardiologist, but could cure virtually any disease with his treatments that were not approved by the US FDA I was certainly intrigued. I spoke with his assistant who told me that the procedure only took three days and was ‘like going to an all-inclusive resort’ in the Dominican Republic, for only $18,500. I took the pamphlet and card from his organization REGENOCYTE and planned to do some more research when I got home.
Unfortunately for the doctor, he has left a digital trail of tears on Google. All of the unsponsored links, except one, on the first page go to news articles with headlines like “State medical board revokes license of stem cell doctor Zannos Grekos” among others. After doing some reading there are some very critical articles about him and how is a businessman, now that his license to practice medicine was revoked in the state of Florida after two of his patients died after receiving “treatments” from him. There are even blogging sites like this one that call him a killer http://sctmonitor.blogspot.com/2012/03/grekos-kills-again.html.
This website actually has links to “Busted Mugshots.com” which has captured more busted mugs of people I knew than I would like to admit and doesn’t portray him in such a good light.
I decided to look elsewhere for opportunities to receive stem cell therapies and then found a clinical trial in Switzerland that I applied for and was denied due to the penetrating trauma I received during my injury. There are a lot of clinical trials listed and being conducted in countries like China and India, but my doctors advised me to be very skeptical of other countries, specifically China because of their political climate and that it may interfere with research methodology.
The next place I looked was the Stem Cell Institute (http://www.cellmedicine.com) in Panama that would do eight injections over a month for around $30,000. This seemed to be legitimate and their course of treatment involved utilizing umbilical cord blood from donors that was refined and processed. I do think there may be some merit to this type of utilization of stem cells in the future and have even heard of parents now saving infants cord blood in the event they should need a concentrated supply of stem cells should they get injured in their lifetime. There is significant benefit to this because there would be little or no chance of rejection and the cells would already be matched for injection. A Google search for “Preserve umbilical cord blood” revealed that there are many blood banks that will store blood for anywhere between $775 and $2500. Anyways, after hearing from other research scientists who have personally done the surgery to inject stem cells into the spines of rats and primates, they explained that simple injections into the spinal column will almost always result in no effect because the stem cells get washed away by the cerebrospinal fluid.
Over the past two months, I attended a “Lunch and Learn” and “Meet the Scientists” courtesy of the HeadNORTH non-profit organization. At these events I met Dr. Ephron Rosenzweig, a research scientist at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), and the findings he presented were very intriguing. He was, by far, the most knowledgeable person I have met to date regarding the latest research in the field. He explained what his research team is currently doing and answered all of the questions posed by the crowd. He displayed incredible images of things that his team was able to accomplish in their research and certainly gave me hope for the future.
His team has conducted extensive research into the use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells to regenerate spinal cords in Rats and Primates. They have been able to generate significant axon growth in a relatively short period of time. There are a lot of different technologies and advances in research that have facilitated their findings. One of these advances is the ability to dye donor cells a certain color to differentiate between old cells and new growth. Another is a concoction created by another UCSD scientist that acts as a paste to keep donor cells in place near the lesion of the Spinal Cord, instead of getting washed away by cerebrospinal fluids. In addition to using this concoction, the scientists had to perform the surgery with the patient at a 45-degree angle to prevent the flow of fluid from washing the cells away, which happened in their first trial in primates.
Where they currently are with their research is that they have gotten Human Embryonic Stem Cells to grow in rats and primates with acute and chronic, functionally complete SCI. This growth has not resulted in any functional recovery in the animals as this was not the goal of the research and the longest they have conducted research has been six weeks. The new axons that were generated did transmit signals up and down the length of their growth and grew nicely into the old spinal cord cells. At this point it appears that the new cells would transmit signals, and with therapy to relearn movement patterns, may result in functional recovery of some sort. The reason why this was not examined during the current research protocols is because of the difficulties encountered while conducting long-term research. As the scientists explained during their lecture, it is incredibly difficult to keep the animals alive long enough to see results.The research animals often get sick and die, because they have to be immuno-suppressed for the duration of the treatment protocol, so that Human Stem Cells can grow into the Rat/Primate species. The research team has identified some potential benefit into long-term studies and analysis of functional recovery and I believe this is something they may pursue in the future.
There are some important questions that are still unanswered at this point regarding the safety of this procedure for humans. Mainly, how can we control the growth rate of the axons? If we are unable to stop the axons from growing once they have reached an appropriate length then the cells essentially become a tumor and grow out of control, which would most likely cause further paralysis and eventually death. This was the part that really struck me, and changed the way I was approaching Stem Cell treatment. I am always skeptical of anything doctors tell me, and don’t take anything as a given, but the sincerity with which Dr. Rosenzweig explained the potential dangers of stem cells really hit home. As bad as it is being paralyzed, I still would like to live as long and healthy life as possible, even if it is in a wheelchair.
I think in the next 5-10 years there will be clinical research for stem cell therapy in humans. It remains to be seen how successful this treatment will be at first, but I believe there is significant promise in this research and that significant progress will be made in my lifetime.
Lastly, I would like to explain the ethics of stem cell research as there has been a consistently negative media campaign run by extreme conservatives led by emotional arguments against abortion. All stem cell research in the US is conducted with cells from a finite supply managed by the appropriate government agencies. So regardless of how many new studies are conducted, no abortions will occur to support any type of research that is conducted in the USA. The highest level of care and regards are given to these research protocols and there is no requirement for abortions to facilitate clinical research. You can support stem cell research that may have the potential to drastically improve the quality of life for injured patients without having to support abortion.

"Every day is a choice to live, love, inspire, honor the fallen, make the world a better place, and walk in the footsteps of giants"

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It's been an amazing journey. If you think I can help you or your team please reach out and I'll do my best to help.

TECHnology FOR PARALySIS

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