Walking Again:
Health Story

Aired on Lifetime Television
Sunday, September 30 and November 18, 2007
Show 420

A year ago, Leon Smith was a quadriplegic—unable to breathe on his own and facing a lifetime of immobility. "I just didn't believe I would never be able to move again," says Leon. Even doctors were skeptical. "The chances of any kind of a recovery in an injury as severe as Leon had and for a period of time as long as he had had it, is essentially zero. His third and fourth vertebrae were completely crushed down," says Dr. Justin Paquette. But then Dr. Paquette performed a surgery using neuro-navigation, a computer guided operating tool, to reassemble Smith's neck. The results were simply unbelievable. Another powerful resource in the field of spinal cord injuries is the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, investing millions in research to help people with spinal cord injuries get back up and moving. Through new surgical techniques, physical therapy, and medications, spinal cord patients don't have to just hope for miracles.