Survivor's story
Soldier defied death during Taliban ambush -- now, he hopes he'll walk again with the help of a radical new treatment
Sat Dec 16 2006 By Jen Skerritt
Article Link
WHEN 24-year-old CFB Shilo-based Cpl. Chris Klodt awoke in a German hospital, he couldn't eat, couldn't talk and was paralyzed from the neck down.
Klodt was shot in the neck July 7 during a Taliban ambush outside Kandahar -- only four weeks before he was set to return home to plan his wedding and witness the birth of his first child.
Instead, Klodt had been struck by a half-inch bullet that was lodged in his spinal cord, turning two of his vertebrae into mere dust.
Now, the soldier is hoping to embark on a groundbreaking surgery he hopes will give him the chance to walk again. Klodt and his fiancee, Deena Schreyer, are meeting with a Hamilton-based neurosurgeon Dr. Michel Rathbone next month to see what new treatment options are available that could repair Koldt's nerve damage.
"If there's a chance of me walking again, I will," he said, lightly brushing the pink scar on his neck with his stiff, bent fingers. "Walk or don't walk. I think it's pretty common sense."
Recent studies have shown stem cell injections in rodents can help repair nerve and spinal cord damage, as well as ease symptoms of chronic illnesses like muscular dystrophy.
However, Rathbone said clinical trials in humans have shown that stem cell injections don't work and can actually do more harm than good since they introduce foreign cells into the body
More on link
Soldier defied death during Taliban ambush -- now, he hopes he'll walk again with the help of a radical new treatment
Sat Dec 16 2006 By Jen Skerritt
Article Link
WHEN 24-year-old CFB Shilo-based Cpl. Chris Klodt awoke in a German hospital, he couldn't eat, couldn't talk and was paralyzed from the neck down.
Klodt was shot in the neck July 7 during a Taliban ambush outside Kandahar -- only four weeks before he was set to return home to plan his wedding and witness the birth of his first child.
Instead, Klodt had been struck by a half-inch bullet that was lodged in his spinal cord, turning two of his vertebrae into mere dust.
Now, the soldier is hoping to embark on a groundbreaking surgery he hopes will give him the chance to walk again. Klodt and his fiancee, Deena Schreyer, are meeting with a Hamilton-based neurosurgeon Dr. Michel Rathbone next month to see what new treatment options are available that could repair Koldt's nerve damage.
"If there's a chance of me walking again, I will," he said, lightly brushing the pink scar on his neck with his stiff, bent fingers. "Walk or don't walk. I think it's pretty common sense."
Recent studies have shown stem cell injections in rodents can help repair nerve and spinal cord damage, as well as ease symptoms of chronic illnesses like muscular dystrophy.
However, Rathbone said clinical trials in humans have shown that stem cell injections don't work and can actually do more harm than good since they introduce foreign cells into the body
More on link
