There has been great progress in recent years, as scientists have unraveled the enormously complicated biology of paralysis. There is indeed reason to hope for treatments and therapies that will restore significant function to people affected by paralysis.
It’s important to note that if by "cure" you mean full return to the way a person was before injury or disease, that may be asking more than the research can deliver – for now. In the short term the cure is more likely to mean better bowel and bladder and perhaps sexual function for people with paralysis, reduced pain, improved breathing and/or hand function for quadriplegics. People with ALS may gain years of life. Some people may gain functional ambulation; some might even be able to toss out their wheelchairs.
The Ashleigh Hall Fund is dedicated to finding treatments for spinal cord disease and trauma. There is much work to do, but there is also great momentum toward the goal.
Paralysis is the result of some sort of disconnection between the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) and the body. Sometimes scientists know why this happens, as in the case of trauma, for example, wherein nerve cells are knocked out by directly by some outside force. In many other cases, including diseases such as multiple sclerosis or transverse myelitis, the breakdown of the nervous system comes from within, and this makes for a very complex mystery.
Biomedical research hopes to unravel the mysteries of nervous system disease and trauma and to return as much function as possible to people who have lost it. This is, of course, easier said than done.
A generation ago, the notion of "cure" for spinal cord injury or other paralyzing conditions wasn’t part of the vocabulary. The central nervous system was simply not viewed as fixable. Few scientists invested their careers in what was considered a dead end area of research. But over the years, things have changed.
The field of restorative neuroscience is bubbling with energy and expectation. There are more scientists working on brain and spinal cord dysfunction now that at any time in history. Even the most conservative researchers no longer believe that the damaged or diseased nervous system cannot be treated.
The clues are mounting. Clinical trials for innovative treatments and therapies will steadily increase in coming years.
While there is much work to do, it is important to know that there is reason for hope.
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