Heath's Blog

Rhiannon’s Road To Recovery

heathbw — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:14:41 +0000

This is Rhiannon Bradford from Melbourne. Rhiannon is a C5 incomplete quad from a diving mishap while on holiday in Bali in September 2009. Despite a nightmarish experience in the Indonesian hospital system and dramas organising to come home, she has regained lots of function with all her hard work and attitude. She also recently returned from Project Walk in the USA, which has done wonders for her, both physically and mentally. This short video documents her experience so far, both here and in America. Please share this vid with anyone and everyone. We’re trying to get this thing to go viral!

Rhiannon’s Facebook group is called STEP BY STEP, click the link to join and talk to her or find out more information. The group is run by Rhiannon herself, but also her mother Sharyn, who is absolutely amazing as well. She deserves a medal for all her efforts with not only Rhiannon’s rehab, but her initiative to begin a massive fundraising campaign to bring Walk On (Project Walk) to Melbourne. Sharyn contacted me through my Facebook group shortly after arriving back in Australia after the accident, and I’ve been following their progress ever since. It’s good to see Rhiannon has done so well, and I wish the both of them the best of the luck for the future.

And it begins……….

heathbw — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 22:05:24 +0000

Well, it’s official! Embryonic stem-cell trials on humans are due to start soon in the USA! This is great news, and another step forward. Come on humanity, you can do it, that’s it, baby steps, come on, nearly there…………………….

Berkeley Bionics Exoskeleton

heathbw — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:59:06 +0000

This is a really good looking bit of equipment currently under manufacture, the Berkeley Bionics Exoskeleton. A much more sleek and compact design than other similar exoskeletons, although I don’t think this exact model would support a paralysed person’s full body weight. This is more an assisting device for the able-bodied, but they’re definitely on the right track.

Click HERE for Berkeley’s website.

My 2 cents…………..

heathbw — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:15:53 +0000

In regards to technology like the REX and the ReWalk, I just want to get personal for a moment. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that this research and development is going on and that these products are becoming available, but I’d love to see all this time, effort, expertise and funding put into finding THE CURE!!!! Go back to the root of the problem, and save the environment from the extra waste that producing all these robotic parts and electrical equipment is going to create. Surely that’s the best course of action.

Look at the recent returned Japanese space flight. Us humans managed to launch a vehicle into space, over a 7 year period fly it MILLIONS of kilometres away and land it on an asteroid, take some surface samples, fly it home again and land it within a few hundred metres of where we predicted it to in the Aussie outback. COMPLETELY UNMANNED!!! Think of the sheer logistics something like that takes. The technology involved? Intercepting a moving asteroid? Monitoring everything about the mission for 7 YEARS? Landing it in the exact spot you predicted back on Earth? Take your pick. And yet we STILL can’t repair a spinal cord? C’mon, we can. We HAVE to. Just have to fit the right puzzle pieces together. And there’s only one way to do that, KEEP AT IT!!! Experiments and human trials right now. Get stuck into it, I reckon. I’m sure there’d be willing participants lining up. Start with old injuries and work backwards.

In the words of Rage Against The Machine:

“It has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime. What better place than here. What better time than now?”

Very fitting.

REX Robotic Legs

heathbw — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:57:00 +0000

A new product out of New Zealand is due for mainstream release soon; REX, a robotic walker very similar to the Argo ReWalk from Israel. Looks like the second best thing to a cure, but at $150 000 a pop, it’s out of the majority’s price range. But I guess they’re on the way to this stuff being widely used and accepted, so it can’t be too bad! Looks like it’s much more suited to paraplegics though, as there’s no real upper body support. I wouldn’t be able to balance in it. But if anyone ends up getting one, let me know! I’ll come and have a crack!

Click HERE to check out the REX.

My Truck Photos

heathbw — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:48:57 +0000

Finally found my truck photo’s that were MIA. Some before-and-afters, the afters taken by the tow truck driver who arrived on the scene. I must say, I prefer the before’s!

Stem-Cell Bank

heathbw — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:06:39 +0000

I was recently put onto the idea of banking your own stem cells for later use. This link is for an Australian bank, but I’m sure they’re in every country if you look for them. Basically, the bank offers a service whereby you are able to draw out stem-cells from your newborn baby’s umbilical cord and freeze them with liquid nitrogen, then put them into storage for x amount of years until they’re needed. Currently, you cannot receive a stem-cell transplant procedure if you have cancer or tumours. I’m guessing it’s so you’re not accidentally spreading anything around your body that might worsen your current condition. Also, the rate of stem-cell production in your own body decreases as you get older. But if you have previously banked, good quality stem-cells, then you can have them injected to help any number of illnesses later on in life. Great idea, but what about those of us without access to these stem-cells in the first place? I’m told that, in Australia at least, by Christmas 2010 we will be able to bank our OWN adult stem-cells.

Click HERE for the StemLife website.

First human nerve graft for SCI to happen soon!

heathbw — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:33:55 +0000

Click HERE for the Earth Times article.

My Stuff (Part 2)

heathbw — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:25:38 +0000

We had our second trip to Perth in 12 months at the end of March. Candy’s sister Heidi and her husband Marty were celebrating the birth of Cooper, their first child and newest addition to the clan. Congratulations guys! The trip over went quite smoothly, we were at the airport about 3 hours early to meet up with friends, but that fell through due to illness on their side. It was lucky we were there that early though, because by the time we’d lined up to check ourselves in, checked ALL our gear in, then lined up again at the special baggage desk to put all our gear on the plane, sorted out having an aisle chair ready at the gate and had a bite to eat, we were spot on time! It’s amazing how much harder and more work it is flying now I’m like this. Even getting on and off the plane takes ages, because although I get to board first (no lining up!), it’s a long time sitting there while everyone else boards. Then I have to wait until last at the other end. Often it can be half an hour after the first people get off that we’re getting inside the terminal and to the baggage carosel, hoping that all our bags are still there! I reckon between getting on and getting off, it adds another hour on to our flight length just sitting there, waiting for everyone else. I have to transfer into and out of the aisle chair back into mine at the bottom of the tunnel, at the door of the plane, creating another spectacle for the cabin crew and cleaners to gawk at as they come past. Just to add the extra uneasiness, the cabin crew inform me before we take-off that in the event of an accident, whilst I can have complete confidence in the crew, I will be dealt with last. Company policy. AND my days of the window seat are gone! For safety reasons, I have to have the aisle seat, which makes it hard if the plane has a 3 seat configuration because I’m in the aisle seat and Candy’s in the middle. So whoever is on the window has to straddle me to get over into their seat. Which is perfectly fine if it’s a gorgeous young lady travelling alone, but so far it’s only been men. Bugger. Hopefully one day I catch a flight with the Australian Women’s Under 30′s Champion Beach Volleyball team. Here’s hoping.

Perth is quite a nice place. We didn’t get much time to look around as Candy was helping Heidi with a lot of stuff as Cooper was only 6 days old and a C-section birth. But we went out a couple of times shopping which was great! First time we were there a year ago, we drove straight out of Perth down to the Margaret River for 2 weeks which was beautiful. So hopefully next time we’ll see a few more sites actually in Perth. While I was there, I went to my first concert since my accident. I absolutely love death metal, and when I lived on the Gold Coast, I regularly trekked up to Brisbane to see some awesome overseas bands that came out here to Australia. Since moving down at the end of 2007, I just didn’t have the time or opportunity to keep going, especially since Melbourne is 4 hours one way and Sydney 5 hours the other. I actually had bought tickets for me and a mate to see Opeth in Sydney in 2008, but I had my accident 2 weeks before the show! So until now I haven’t even looked at going to any, but then I found out about all these bands touring this year, and the more I thought about it the more I didn’t want to miss them. Especially now I have all the time in the world! So I dragged Marty along with me to the Amplifier Bar in Perth to see a US progressive death metal band called Between The Buried And Me, which was definitely a new experience for him! It was a great show and I had a great night. Since then I’ve made 2 trips to Melbourne with a carer to see more bands and have another concert coming up at the end of May. One good thing about going to shows in a wheelchair is that I always get VIP service, as venues are understanding of me not being able to get around in a crowd of people. I don’t have to line up, and so far have been let in early to get a good spot so I can see, through back door’s or loading dock’s if I have too, and keep seeing all the band members standing around out there. These guys are like Brangelina to me! Next time I’m going to take something to get signed I reckon!

My standing frame got delivered on April Fool’s (figures!). It’s a great bit of equipment, really easy to use and so beneficial! This should be the FIRST piece of equipment you get at home, not the last. It’s good to get upright again, a really weird feeling but still good. It’s extremely uncomfortable though, it feels like you’re trying to balance on top of balls stacked on each other. But I try and get on it everyday, it’s good to get some weight back on the joints and stretch all the muscles.

A couple of weeks ago we had a meeting with our local MP Greg Aplin in Albury, to discuss the issue of the difference in monetary amounts in Workcover between the states. Basically, while Workcover is a national initiative, each state and territory in Australia has it’s own rules and regulations for it. Workcover in NSW has a lesser amount of weekly salary paid AND a lesser payout amount than both Queensland and Victoria, yet premiums are dearer here. This is ridiculous, why isn’t there just a flat rate, no matter where you live? It was a good meeting, I was relatively happy with the outcome, now I just have to pretty much write down the stuff we spoke about so he can take it on behalf of us and speak to some people, try and get some balls rolling. So I’ll keep everyone posted about that!

That’s pretty much everything for now, we’re all up to date. I’m going ok, SOOO doesn’t seem like 20 months ago I had this catastrophe happen to our lives. I can still close my eyes and take myself straight back to my proper life, driving around in the truck, bashing away on the drums, laying in bed with Candy…………I guess that is a never-ending list. I thought it was supposed to get easier as time goes on, not harder! Hopefully the scientists come up with something soon, for all our sakes!

“Why did I let this happen to me?”

heathbw — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:43:48 +0000

This article is written by Melanie Reid, a columnist for The Times in the UK, who recently broke her neck in a horse-riding accident. I really identified with this, her descriptions of those early days and weeks are spot on, especially the bits about morphine dreams, claustrophobia, and looking and touching your legs with no sensation in them. But, as horrible as it is imagining what it’s like when you’re reading about it, it’s 10 times, no, 100, no, 1000 times worse in real life. I actually can’t even accurately describe the living hell that us SCI victims went through in those early days. The title says it all…………

Click HERE for Melanie’s article.