United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi everyone
It's me again saying hello and help. Sean has at last started to go to rehab and seems to be doing well. the pain of course is not great and the cold weather is making it worse, but he is trying to move forward. Any suggestions? I know that at some stage I was given a contact for the Australian BPI network but I can't find it. I would love to be in touch with this group, not only for Sean, but for myself and the rest of my family.
I am also keen to hear about the work that people who have a BPI do and what they needed to do to retrain for other occupations, if that's what they did.
At the moment I am currently undertaking a project to give chronic pain sufferers the opportunity to explore alternative pain management. I hope to achieve this by organising a kind of pain management expo. What do people think of this idea? All replies will be greatly appreciated and of course ideas about what is available out there. Hope this makes sense.
In Melbourne one of the biggest research facilities have just been given a huge grant to carry out stem cell reseach. I have spoken to a leading researcher and he believes that the possibilities for BPI recovery is not outside being real. Breakthroughs are happening every day. I told him that I would love him to be totally unreasonable and find the answer. He assured me that he and his team are working on just that.
Any way thanks again for listening and for being there for me and my family.
Love and prayers to you all

hi, my name is Denny. in response to yer work question, i went back to work just 6 months post ltbpi. at the time of my crash i was already a foreman with my company. fortunatly for me, my boss is the greatest. he was begging me to come back. i was unsure due to the fact of the pain. i wasn't aware it would never ease up. so i gave it a shot, and it wasn't too bad. as long as i keep my mind occupied, the pain is not too bad. i also operate the retractable boom forklift, i've been told on numerous occasions that i am amazing in it. i'm still yet to see another operator surpass my forklift skills.
in answer to the second part about chronic pain management, i will offer myself as a guinnea pig for anything. i underwent an, unsuccessful, D.R.E.Z. operation, and now i'm giving accupucture a try. i constantly try to control the pain and not let it control me.
as a thought for retraining, real estate crossed my mind, but within my ironworking company i'm sitting pretty comfortable now. running the whole site from start to finish without the boss guy around.
so basically, even though we are all down 1 arm, if you put yer mind to it, it can be achieved.
good luck to sean, Denny from vancouver b.c.

As far as retraining goes I ran into a lot of American red tape and got no help. I was a nursing assistant before the car accident. I worked three twelve hour night shifts every weekend. For those who don't know CNAs who work in long term care facilities like I did spend about 80 to 90 percent depending on our patients cares lifting. It was an awesome job that fit my personality and I will forever miss my patients....
I tried real estate but that did not work at all. In the market I was in computers ruled and my typing now SUCKS! I ran into a lot of other obstacles that I never would have imagined but were there...
I have also ran into the problem that people do not want to hire you... To be honest I cannot blame them. So I hide my arm(its not that hard)and get hired and then fired later on when they figure my left hand does not work. In my opinion if they do not ask in an interview its none of their business.
As far as stem cell research I would never do it...
I hope this helps.
Mindy

Moirap - I have great hope in stem cell research. Our dear chiropractor friend was kicked by a horse in his chest. He had to have a few surgeries and one of the medicines they put him on fried his kidneys. He lost one kidney completely and he was on dialysis for the last 3 years with only 10% kidney left. He cannot get a transplant because of the immunoseppresants and a family history of rheumatoid arthritis. So being that he was close to dying he subjected himself to stem cell research. It's now about one year later and he's off the dialysis. His one kidney is back enough to get him off the dialysis. You bet I believe in stem cell research - he's living proof and thank God for that!! Gotta have hope in what the future brings. We don't know half of what they are experimenting with.

Well we can only hope and pray right?

-francine

"It is indeed difficult to accept the disability or premature death of any human being because such tragedy marks the loss of potential. Who might this person have become? What might he or she have accomplished? Yet precisely the same potential is lost when a human embryo, cloned or not, is torn apart to supply stem cells for the benefit of another. Who would these embryonic beings have become, if only they had been protected and nurtured? Instead of sanctioning their sacrifice, those who brought these embryos into being should act as caretakers, nurturing and protecting these tiny human lives. In that way, they act as faithful images of God, reflecting His character to the world. Endorsing the destruction of human embryos fails miserably to reach this end, as it makes it ever easier for society to abdicate its responsibilities to the weak and vulnerable at all stages of development. Policies which promote human cloning and research on stem cells derived from human embryos reflect ominously on the state of a society and the values which characterize it."


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Donal O'Mathuna - Mount Carmel College of Nursing

Published in Dignity
Fall, 2000

I know I am going to get a lot of flack for what I am going to say but it needs to be said.
How can anyone put stem cell research and God's name in the same sentence. Those "cells" are the result of someone murdering an unborn child! I cannot believe any Mother could hope upon this kind of research. You are asking through your "prayers" that God helps some other lady make the decision to murder her child so your child can have a better life! Lets put this subject back into the context it is which is murdering children for somebody else's gain.
Mindy

Last time this topic came up i did some research, this website is very informative. http://www.religioustolerance.org/res_stem.htm#act

It's an emotive issue, on the whole like you Mindy, I don't agree with using stem cells from foetuses but it seems other sources are not as good, i guess we'll have to wait until science can find an ethical way to do this research.

Hi Mindy
I have just read your response to the stem cell comments and I am reeling. I have done extensive research into this and can assure you that no one would ever be asked to murder their child for the sake of another. I think that this is a very emotive issue and that much of the information that has been released is presented in a way to stir up feelings of anger and angst. Stem cells can be harvested from the body of the person requiring them and new methods and discoveries are being uncovered regularly. I think that before you sound off and accuse a mother who loves her son of being wrong in some way for praying for a cure you maybe need to stop and look at the motivation behind it.
In my last posting the information that I was most interested in was to help my 22 year old son find a way to move forward in his life and find a way to live his life as fully and pain free as he can. I would hope that UBPN was a forum where anyone could put forward thoughts and ideas without the fear of judgement. It is very difficult to write a few words and fully express how you feel or exactly what you are looking for at a particular point in time. I repect that we are all entitled to our own opinions but do take exception to being made wrong. God knows exactly how I feel about my son's BPI and I will continue to pray for him and for all people who have experienced a BPI. And one day, I hope, I will stand before God and ask why?
Love and prayers to you all
Moira