# Paralysed man walks again after cell transplant **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 21, 2014, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011 "2014-10-21T11:03:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011/21 "2014-10-22T20:02:35Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Now, if only they can restore his sense of smell! > > … Possibly they can use spinal tissue for that. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011/22 "2014-10-24T22:54:13Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > And this is the main reason why, for a large number of paralyzed people (myself included), such a “cure” would hold no interest to them. They are happy with their lives as is and don’t feel that they are even in need of any “cure” in the first place. This is the life they know now and the idea of spending years and going thru all that pain, basically stopping the life they know, just so they can “walk” in some unsightly, inefficient, horribly unstable manner just is not a desirable future. It can become a bit offensive at times when the world is constantly telling you you are in need of being fixed. That you are broken. I’ve spent the past 14 understanding and realizing just the opposite. [An interesting and relevant discussion with wheelchair users](http://www.channel4.com/news/paralysis-wheelchair-disability-sophie-morgan-paula-craig) from a UK news program voices many of these same issues. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011/23 "2014-10-24T23:08:36Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > And this is the main reason why, for a large number of paralyzed people (myself included), such a “cure” would hold no interest to them. They are happy with their lives as is and don’t feel that they are even in need of any “cure” in the first place. This is the life they know now and the idea of spending years and going thru all that pain, basically stopping the life they know, just so they can “walk” in some unsightly, inefficient, horribly unstable manner just is not a desirable future. It can become a bit offensive at times when the world is constantly telling you you are in need of being fixed. That you are broken. I’ve spent the past 14 understanding and realizing just the opposite. I knew deaf people have this philosophy, but that some paras and quads feel this way is news to me.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011/24 "2014-10-24T23:24:18Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > This is awesome news and hopefully will be the breakthrough it promises to be. However, what it will not be is any kind of boon for the millions of people who have been paralyzed for years or decades and whose bodies have atrophied and wasted away to the point that bone loss, muscle and soft tissue loss and other degenerative problems would make walking again-even if a cure ever came about-simply impossible. I agree. People keep telling my husband (C5/6) that he’ll be walking again. Not a chance. He was injured in 1977 and, even if a reliable treatment were available, I doubt it’d be offered to an SCI patient so far down the track. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011/25 "2014-10-24T23:25:13Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > I knew deaf people have this philosophy, but that some paras and quads feel this way is news to me.:eek: Not the same at all. If becoming “fixed” were as seamless and easy as simply sticking a tiny little piece of equipment on one’s hip and being able to walk, I think many more people would choose to go that route. It is not JUST a “this is us now, let us be” mentality at work here, it is the acknowledgment that any such therapy that might bring about ambulation would require years and years and pain and suffering that people who have already well moved on and developed a life simply don’t want. Why would they? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011/26 "2014-10-24T23:32:47Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011/27 "2014-10-24T23:54:55Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > I agree. People keep telling my husband (C5/6) that he’ll be walking again. Not a chance. He was injured in 1977 and, even if a reliable treatment were available, I doubt it’d be offered to an SCI patient so far down the track. And even it were offered, do you imagine he would _want_ to subject himself to what would no doubt be the most painful, grueling, longest physical therapy he had ever undergone? For what ultimate end? To be able to hobble and wobble and shuffle and limp. Would that really be a “cure”? ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011/28 "2014-10-25T12:35:36Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > And even it were offered, do you imagine he would _want_ to subject himself to what would no doubt be the most painful, grueling, longest physical therapy he had ever undergone? For what ultimate end? To be able to hobble and wobble and shuffle and limp. Would that really be a “cure”? I think he probably would. Whether he’d regret that decision is obviously unknown. Of course, in addition to having atrophied leg muscles to work on, he would also have to have extensive physiotherapy on his arms. I’m not at all sure that, given his age (57), he’d be up to it. But he’s a stubborn bugger, so he’d probably want the surgery/treatment. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011/29 "2014-10-25T15:22:45Z")
Your point totally taken, **Ambivalid.** Obviously, this is a nascent breakthrough in spinal cord regeneration, and the results being reported here came about with much toil and suffering on the part of the patient, but not without a more altruistic goal in medical research and progress. Going from this not being a possibility or an option at all (because it didn’t exist), to something of promise for those to whom it makes sense—hopefully going from A-to-Z in this treatment will become shorter and less grueling as time and experimentation marches forward. Also, besides regaining some movement, the article did mention some returning _sensation_, which I can only imagine might be more valuable to some? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paralysed-man-walks-again-after-cell-transplant/702011.md?page=1)