re: Medical students or doctors please read...

Sounds like one of GOD'S miracles to me

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I know for certain that what was shared with me was that he almost completely severed his spinal cord

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Sounds like the information that got passed onto you was exaggerated.

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The doctor shared that he would "never walk again".

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I have been around plenty of doctors and saw my fair share of neurological injuries in my 3.5 years of medical school and I have never heard a doctor used the word never when discussing a pt’s prognosis. So again it sounds like there was some miscommunication and you received some exaggerated information. However, your friend is a lucky SOB and I wish him the best.

Thank You and I believe your thesis is the most logical.

I have not seen the data on his injury and was not there to see the interaction between the doctor and family.

I agree that the information has been exaggerated also.

I believe the young doctor who mentioned the fact the information is likely exaggerated is most likely.

I personally did not exaggerate the information at any point.

I hope this recovery is as fortunate as your own.

Only thing I can think of



But I'm no doctor.

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The spinal cord was almost completely severed

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No it wasn’t

Frankly, I’f he really did sever the cord then, then none of this should have happened.


There must have been some huge mixup on the severity/extent of the damage because recovery from that does not happen.


Either that or the kids Wolverine

If his spinal cord was severed at all then he’d lose voluntary muscle use below the injury. That’s just how it works. He may have bruised the cord at C5/6 but it wasn’t severed. Get the MRI report and post it...with the patient’s permission of course.
An injury at C5/6 would cause loss of function from the shoulders down. He’d still have use of his shoulder and biceps and have greatly decreased use of his hands. He’d still be able to breathe but his respiratory muscles would be weakened.
If he has any use of his legs, then he did not sever his cord. Theoretically he could have cut some of the cord posteriorly and maintain some use of his legs...called posterior cord syndrome, but I’ve never heard of this happening as a result of trauma.