Nothing a good game of basketball can't cure

For those of you who have been following my blog you know that I am in the hospital following an operation to collapse a cyst (syrinx) in my spinal cord (syringomyelia). After the operation I had a few days rest and then started rehab and met my occupational therapist.

After introductions our short conversation went like this.

Therapist: What do you think about basketball?
Me: Do you mean getting drunk while watching it on TV?
Therapist: (No answer)

Well, I'm happy that he has forgiven my quick tongue, but now I have to figure out away to teach him about our battle for a cure of paralysis, and that's more difficult.

Before I go any further, I want to make a few things clear. One, I am not against basketball. Two, I do understand how sports can play a positive role in reintegration and self esteem for some paralyzed people, and three, I'm not against a healthy lifestyle and exercise for anyone. I am simply against the concept that says wheelchair sports can cure the broken lives caused by paralysis. I'm sure that if Marx had been paralyzed he would have called wheelchair basketball 'the opiate of the paralyzed'.

I don't blame the rehab therapists for not understanding the cure for spinal cord injuries. After speaking to people across the world I'm pretty sure that this basketball speech is in the 'International Rehab Therapists Manual'. It's up to us to change the way they think so that when they talk about basketball they mention it in the same breath as 'cure' and how we have to keep our bodies and minds in good shape so that when there is a cure we'll be ready.

To this end I would like to republish a leaflet that was prepared for the ISCoS (International Spinal Cord Society) last June. You can print out the piece below (here is the PDF) and give it to your rehab therapists, doctors, nurses, etc.

What can a leaflet do to push the cure forward?

After having rewatched Cry Freedom about Steven Biko and the 'black consciousness' movement I realized that what we are missing is 'cure consciousness'. Until we and health professionals start believing science, that CNS (central nervous system) regeneration, i.e., a cure for spinal cord injury, is possible, we will be stuck in teaching the paralyzed that the only thing they got coming to them is a rousing game of basketball.

So hand out the lealflet and have a little talk with your health care profession, and don’t forget to hold your tongue even if you think you got a good one-liner like I had.

The leaflet is two pages. It contains a message from those living with spinal cord injuries (download) - full colour version, plus a list of clinical trials that are going on around the world (download)- full colour version.

It was bound to happen again. Why I didn't think it would happen again is beyond me.

I have to remember in these instances that people are just trying to be helpful, but sometimes I forget and instead of trying to use the situation to teach a point, a smart-ass comment pops out instead.