When I was young, 21, I read Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, written by Samuel Johnson in 1759. Its theme was "the vanity of human wishes." I was new to paralysis, despondent, and accepted that my deepest wish — to turn back the clock to the day before my accident — was futile. I would be paralyzed forever.
In 1966 that's what medical books taught, end of argument. That was also the year an article in the Los Angeles Times announced that scientists had enabled a paraplegic to stand by placing electrodes on his legs and applying pulses of electricity.
What has happened over these past 40 years, while frustratingly slow, gives reason for hope. In the '70s functional electrical stimulation was studied; in the '80s it was refined; in 1990 Wise Young and colleagues overturned scientific dogma by discovering that methylprednisolone, administered soon after SCI, can improve recovery. A brief, post-injury window in which regeneration is possible began to be studied for clues to further regenerative therapies.
In each decade we heard the same promise: A cure is coming within five to 10 years, maybe longer. After hearing it repeatedly yet seeing no practical therapies, I stuck with my original conclusion: I would be paralyzed forever.
Today, thanks to Wise Young and other researchers, I'm beginning to believe. A "cure" will happen as a result of research involving combination therapies — stem cells, axon-growth stimulators, and growth inhibition blockers — followed by intensive therapy, based partly on what we've learned from FES dating back to 1966. And yes, it will happen in five to 10 years, maybe longer.
But it won't happen without collaboration, commitment and persistence, three earmarks of Wise Young's career. "He's creating a great body of work for scientists all over the world to draw from," says John Smith, whose son Noah became a C7 quad in 2002. Smith also moderates another of Young's creative works, CareCure forum. "I'm biased," he says, "but the man is a true genius, and so tireless. He has so much time for everybody."
In 1975 Lewis Thomas' collection of essays, The Lives of a Cell, compared a cell to a human body, a society, or even a universe, in which all parts work together to promote the integrity, and the future, of the organism. In SCI research, Wise Young has put this principle to work. In a 2005 interview in the Rutgers publication Focus, Young said, regarding his choosing the name "W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience" for the facility he directs: "There were puzzled looks. Yes, scientists collaborate, but they also compete with each other. Interestingly, the scientific and education world has embraced the term."
Young's commitment to collaboration can be seen on a global scale in his creating the China SCI Network. But that model needs to return to the United States. We can help by urging passage of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, which would create six regional hubs for research that would emphasize, says Young, "reversal of paralysis."
I have written that walking again is not high on my list of personal wishes. But to me, reversal of paralysis sounds like turning back the clock. And that's exciting.
