STAY HOPEFUL

Work hard in rehab. Most people with SCI get better in the first weeks after injury. Some get a lot better. Be as active as possible. Activity has been linked to nerve recovery.

Treatments ... will there be a cure: It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.

There is a major effort in science labs around the world to develop treatments for SCI. Researchers have come a long way in understanding the biology of spinal trauma, and what might be done to fix or perhaps bypass the damage. In some animal experiments, efforts to repair, reroute or regenerate damaged nerves in the cord have had limited success; at this time, however, no treatment is even close to being approved for either acute or chronic SCI in humans. There are some exciting possibilities on the horizon, including some in clinical trials, but no one can offer a reliable timeframe for the arrival of new treatments.

IT GETS BETTER

Seriously, keep breathing. OK, yes, SCI sucks. There is pain, there is fear, and there is depression. And probably anger and regret. It’s OK, hide out in denial for a while. But you have a resilience that you never knew was there. And as long as you still have a pulse, you still get to choose: get busy living or get busy dying.