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Spinal victim walks for cure

Motorbike accident victim Simon Thornborrow is lucky to be alive, let alone walking.

Despite spinal injuries, he will attempt to walk his first marathon on November 17 to raise funds for the Spinal Cord Society of New Zealand.

Mr Thornborrow was riding from his home in Wharehine - west of Wellsford - to work through the Dome Valley about 7.30am on January 10 when a car spun out near the Dome Cafe, crossing into his lane.

Blowing away a sniff of a cure

Andrew Commons is determined to walk again - utterly determined. As well as following an intensive daily exercise regime, he's also undergone courses of stem cell treatment for the spinal cord injury that has confined him to a wheelchair.

Just back from Beijing Tiantan Puhua Hospital, Commons says it's too early to tell whether several injections of stem cells into his spine have worked, but he's optimistic.

Nose cells may heal spine

The Dominion Post

People paralysed by spinal cord injuries could soon be "repaired" using cells from their own noses, say Otago University researchers.� The Health Ministry's ethics committee has just approved an application by the Spinal Cord Society to open the way for a clinical trial involving 12 patients, which could start next year. The society's president, Noela Vallis, said there was no shortage of volunteers ready to take part.

"Some have already gone overseas out of a sense of frustration that they can't access it [the experimental treatment] here," Mrs Vallis said.