|
Featured News
Kemper County cheerleader rebounds from paralyzing disorder at Methodist Rehab Center
After a season of cheerleading for the Kemper County High School football team, Kristy Grace should have been in the best shape of her life.
But as the Christmas holidays neared, the 16-year-old noticed a strange weakness in her extremities. “My legs would flap when I walked, and I noticed my feet were numb,” she said. “Then the right side of my hand and fingers got numb and tight, and I couldn’t write.”
She began falling, too, and doctors seemed baffled by her symptoms. Then tests at Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson verified a Meridian neurologist’s suspicions. Kristy had Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can cause full body paralysis.
 |
 |
Mississippi Paralysis Association funds project to create online resource for spinal cord injury patients
Critical self-care strategies will soon be a few clicks away for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients in Mississippi. Methodist Rehabilitation Center is putting the information online, thanks to a $47,696 grant from the Mississippi Paralysis Association (MPA).
MPA Executive Director Natalie Ellis of Clinton said the money will fund the Jackson hospital’s eTHANKS project, a Web-based program that will serve as a ’round-the-clock resource for SCI patients striving to stay healthy. |
 |
Holy Technology! 'Batman suit' gives paralyzed 5-year-old the ability to walk
Its official name is the Otto Bock Reciprocating Gait Orthosis, which is too much of a mouthful for 5-year-old Michael Johnson Jr. of Monroe.
So he calls his new trunk-to-heel brace system his “Batman suit.” The name reflects Michael’s fascination with super heroes, but this suit’s “powers” aren’t just make-believe. When the partially paralyzed youngster wears the braces, he can walk. |
 |
Functionality of today's artificial limbs helps Raymond woman reclaim active lifestyle
Carol Anderson is careful to spell out w-a-l-k when she’s around her Rat Terrier, Brussels Griffon and two Chihuahuas. She doesn’t want to get their hopes up yet.
But the day is near when she’ll once again take Lucy, Sadie, Emma and Annie on a romp around her Raymond neighborhood. After years of being hobbled by a severely injured ankle, Anderson is reclaiming her active lifestyle with the help of an artificial limb.
|
 |
Delta farmer returns to fields with help of high-tech limb
As Matt Azlin begins a play-by-play of his Nov. 13 farm accident, his wife Katherine gently hustles their two kids out of earshot.
Hayes, 5, and Josie, 18 months, don’t need to hear the gruesome details. They already know how Daddy lost his lower right leg. And if the truth be known, they handled the news better than most adults. “When we first told Hayes about the amputation, he said: ‘Cool, Daddy is going to be a pirate,’ ” Katherine said. “He even wanted to take my artificial leg to school for share day,” Matt said.
|
 |
|
