January 2, 2006

When Ryan first arrived at the hospital after his accident, he had very little movement or feeling in either hand and severe neurological pain throughout both. Since then, he has regained a lot of feeling and movement in his right hand and can move the fingers independently. Oh his left hand he has sensory perception throughout the hand expect on the end of his pinkie. Last night, for the first time, Ryan was able to move the pinkie on his left hand. The pinkie is controlled by the spinal cord at a vertebra at a lower point than the other fingers. Knowing this gives hope that Ryan will regain more movement throughout the rest of his fingers on his left, although there are no guarantees. For anyone who has ever heard Ryan play the piano, you can understand how exciting this news is.

Yesterday we posted some information about an experimental research study in which Ryan was hoping to be a participant. One of the prerequisites for paricipation was that the bruise on the spinal cord be less than 30mm long. (a little over an inch) When the MRIs were taken yesterday, they revealed that Ryan’s spinal cord bruise had grown to 37mm from the 28mm measurement taken immediately after the accident. Ryan will not be able to participate in the study. Ryan feels that, “This was Heavenly Father’s answer as to whether or not we should participate in the study. Not participating in the study will allow me to continue with rehabilitation and not experience the effects of major surgery again.” Ryan’s sister, Whitney, did some research and found that 53 SCI research studies are in progress in the world today. Many of the studies can only be done after a year of rehabilitation. Ryan’s participation in the current study would have likely precluded him from participation in later studies. He will have many opportunities yet to come as the field of SCI medicine advances!