SCI Life: July 2015


Wes Bandemer

Turning to Veganism and Stem Cells

Growing up, Wes Bandemer, 25, Morgan City, La., was all about staying physically active. “I was always doing something physical every single day,” he says. “I didn’t have a computer and rarely touched video games,” and then I lost it all, not even being able to shrug my shoulders.”

A C3-7 incomplete quad, Bandemer was injured in a motocross race in 2005. “I held the gas a little long on a right sweeping turn before the finish line jump,” he says. He flew off his bike, shattering his C4 vertebra.

For someone so physical before his injury, he’s determined to heal, and even though it’s 11 years later, he’s still in recovery mode. Bandemer first traveled to Germany for an adult stem cell bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, the procedure didn’t produce any results.

Next he traveled to India for embryonic stem cell injections, and it was there he saw the first return below his level of injury. “I regained significant strength and movement in my arms. Mainly in my biceps,” he says, “but also a lot of return in core strength and even some flickering in my toes.”

Bandemer says he would have seen even more return if he hadn’t developed a decubitus ulcer that he thinks “preoccupied” the stem cells into healing his bed sore instead. He hopes to return next year, but needs to raise $39,000 to make it happen.

He also made a huge change to his diet — he became vegan. So far he’s lost weight and takes only one pill each day for spasms. “I fully attach it to myself and am betting my life and recovery on it. When I’m walking again, I’ll be praising the vegan diet as a necessity.”

A never-say-die hopeful spirit, Bandemer is a true soldier for the cure. Visit his site at www.wes4one7.com

Sixth Digit

Now That’s a Cool Digit

It took recently injured mechanical engineer Josh Smith, a C5-6 quad from Richmond, Va., to come up with one of the smartest solutions ever created to help solve one of the most frustrating aspects of life with lower-level quadriplegia — limited dexterity. He calls it the Sixth Digit.

The wearer puts on a bendable ring with an inch-long metal stem (and topped with a metal mesh tip) to type easier and faster, use cell phones easier, even hit the buttons on a microwave easier. And it can still be worn while pushing a wheelchair. Sleek, highly functional and beyond useable, it’s no wonder Smith’s Kickstarter project raised more than the $8,000 in backing it needed this past March to start production — $9,140 overall.

Production of the Sixth Digit began in July. To learn more about the Sixth Digit and to purchase one yourself.

New Injury Help

The New Perspective Foundation has one purpose — to help the loved ones of people with new spinal cord injuries visit them without financial risk. The foundation will pay for travel expenses for those living in Ohio and Florida, and hopes to expand their reach in the coming years. For more information, see www.newperspectivefoundation.org and the story of the founder click here.


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