Can't Walk, Won't Walk?
Here's some details of a documentary ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 are showing tomorrow night with subtitles and audio description.
Mik Scarlet has been paralysed from the waist down since he was a teenager, spending most of his adult life in a wheelchair. An operation could offer him the chance to walk again - but there's no guarantee of success. What will he decide?
Find out tomorrow night: 7th December, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 at 7pm.
Comments
I had an accident at 21 as a nurse and have spent the last 31 years fighting using a wheelchair, I have missed out on so much and have damaged my muscles and body by having to do so much myself. I finaly had to start to use a electric scooter and my whole life as opened up. accepting any disability and still living as full a life as you can, using any means possible to help you get the best quality of life that we can have is the most important, I understand the fear of changing. No decision is wrong it is learning to accept your decision and the consequences.
Interesting documentary.
3 very different people with 3 different stories.
Well done ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ for screening this despite Mik's decision not to have the operation. He, like the others featured, is entitled to his choice and I'm not sure I've ever come across someone accept their disability and choose to live with it in the way he has.
Absolutely brilliant progrmme, especially Mik Scarlett's contribution.
I have only been a paraplaegic for a year now but came to realise and accept that I probably wouldn't walk again.
Basically I should not be alive so for that I am grateful.
I am a computer nerd - and qualified IT engineer-and have been trawling the net for current research.
That is all there is at the moment,research.
There are drugs that are being tested that are helping axions regrow that may give one or two more vertebras worth of sensation and control.
In my case I would get back bladder and bowel control.
Do as Ric suggests and accept your disability,hoping and praying(if that is your thing)that something miraculous does come from this research.
Bob Ireland
Waaaaaahhhh! I MISSED IT!!!! An' I just love Mik... to me he is my crip hero...and I missed him! Is there any chance that this will be repeated/shown on the web? Please let me know! Pleaseeee!
hiya im 20 i had an accident in 2003 and have been a paraplegic ever since. Anyway i wanted to watch the programme becuase i may be able to benifit from this kind of treatment as i am able to walk a bit. I am hoping that someone who watched this programme may be able to give me some info about the treatment. If anyone can plz complain to my blog witht the details thanx.x
There are many of us who feel the way Mik does. And it is a struggle, having to fight against unrealistic expectations of people who don't share our reality, but think theirs is the only way to live a life of quality. They are the ones I feel sorry for, because of their apparent lack of imagination.
Hi, I am a close friend of Susan Robson's...She was featured in the program. The end of the documentary suggested that she has grown and is now living a normal life... Fact of the matter is, almost 1 year on, she still can not walk, the only things to have improved are her muscle control, touch, taste, sight, and she still has not taken a tablet for pain relief. when all the media coverage a few months ago about stem cells came about, sue was asked to comment. she said that they were all made aware that it was not a cure amd it may not work. she said that even though she can not walk, the stem cells have given her a better quality of life, and for that reason.... for Susan Robson, it has worked.
I have been paralysed sinse Apr 2004 after contracting MRSA in my lower spine after having spinal surgery. Life has been very hard as I am also a single mum to three children aged 9, 10 and 11. My 10yr old is also disabled. After everything that I have been through I would not take the risk of further spinal surgery in-order to get my legs back as it would probably kill me. I fully agree with Mik and his new wife that the ability to walk again is not worth risking your life over. Thankyou Mik for giving me the courage to face life and be proud of the fact that I am alive as for a while they thought I was going to die. Thanks again Mik and I hope you remain well.
Dear Mik Scarlet. . . .
I Recently Read Your Article About Your Views On Christopher Reeve And Andrew Slorance And Frankly I Was Shocked.
Shocked And Appalled.
Your Clearly Emotionally Unstable
And Have Yet To Come To Terms With Your Disability.
It Is Sad That You Are Still Struggling And There Are Numerous Classes On Coming To Terms With Your Unfortunate Ailment.
Also I Find It Unbelivably Pathetic To Criticise Other Wheelchair Users. Everyone Is Entitled To Handling Their Disability In Their Own Way.
It's Time To Grow Up And Stop Dressing Like An 80's Punk. It Doesn't Hide The Fact That Your In A Wheelchair.
And "Your Enegetic Night Of Passion With Your Darling Girlfriend" Sounds Like Fun.
Your's Sincerely Owen Frost