Jul. 04, 2006 - 22:43 MDT

GO ON FROM HERE

Thinking about progress tonight and having found an article that perhaps foretells medical progress down the road a bit, it is by Marilynn Marchione of The Associated Press and I shall quote it in its entriety:

20 YEARS AFTER SEVERE INJURY, MAN'S BRAIN HAS REWIRED ITSELF

"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 thought to be the only person in the United States to recover so dramatically so long after a severe brain injury. He still needs help eating and cannot walk, but his speech continues to improve, and he can count to 25 without interruption."

"Wallis' sudden recovery happened three years ago at a rehablitation center in Mountain View, Ark., but doctors said the same cannot be hoped for people in a persistent vegetative state, such as Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who died last year after a fierce right-to-die court battle. Nor do they know how to make others with less serious damage, like Wallis, recover."

"Right now these cases are like winning the lottery," said Dr. Ross Zafonte, rehabilitation chief at the Univedrsity of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who was not involved in the research. "I wouldn't want to overenthuse family members or folks who think now we have a cure for this."

"Wallis has complete amnesia about the two decades he spent barely conscious, but he remembers his life before the injury."

"He still thinks Ronald Regan is president," his father Jerry, said in a statement, adding that until recently his son insisted he was 20 years old."

"The research on Wallis, published Monday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, was led by imaging expert Henning Voss and neurologist Dr. Nicholas Schiff at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City and included doctors at JFK Medical Center in Edison, N. J."

"Wallis was 19 when he suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him briefly in a coma and then in a minimally conscious state, in which he was awake but uncommunicative other than occasional nods and grunts, for more than 19 years."

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Of course this is no giant leap into mental and healing progress. But to my mind it gives a glimmer of what the body and mind can do.

I accept this as fantastic and super good news. It does give medical science the opportunity to further study Mr. Willis on through the rest of his life in an effort to understand how his body and mind was able to do that remarkable feat and give some indication of what next to do.

I do not know what studies are underway regarding phantom pain that many who have lost a limb suffer, wherein they compalain of pain in the toes of a missing foot and such things. Seems to me that perhaps studies afoot regarding Mr. Willis might shed some light on that, as it might involve nerve network healing also.

The old barb, "Physician heal thyself," might include a medical degree for Mr. Willis . . . . . . . . (Makin' a funny, but - - - after all).

Delving into just how Mr. Willis' brain was able to weave new nerve connections, finding out and putting into practice a way for other brain injured people to progress, heal faster, recover more of their faculties and physical ability seems to draw that ability a bit closer.

So, now is the time for medical scientists to pick up the ball and GO ON FROM HERE . . . . . . . . .

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