The silver bullet - it always hangs over disabled people. The ‘what if...’ question which permeates any news story that features a scientific breakthrough with the accompanying touchy feely video on YouTube. We’ll get to the latest breakthrough in a moment but first, I want to recount a memory from my childhood.
His name was PC Olds. He was stabbed during a raid on an off-licence and he became an instant hero in the UK. The knife had cut the spinal chord and he was left paralysed.
"Even as a teenager I just wanted to shout STOP and let the man find the space to adjust to the new reality of his life."
For better or worse, PC Olds was determined to walk again and the BBC decided to follow his ‘journey’. This was before reality TV so there was an element of serious journalism in the approach. PC Olds was a broken man unable to accept the tragedy that had occurred. His search to ‘walk’ saw him wired up to so many machines. You could see the emotional and physical havoc it was having. Even as a teenager I just wanted to shout STOP and let the man find the space to adjust to the new reality of his life. After the TV cameras had gone, the adjustment never happened and PC Olds decided the easiest solution was a cocktail of drink and drugs. He did this in 1986, six years after the stabbing.
The big, bad wheelchair was just too much to bear and the silver bullet could not be found.
The same story was played out when Christopher Reeve had his accident. His coping mechanism was to use his fame to raise money for that elusive ‘cure’. Again death arrived before the cure and people like me were left to despair at so much energy wasted by a good man unwilling to fully accept his condition.
This brings us to this week’s news about the use of stem cells to repair the spine ‘naturally’. I’ll be honest and say that the science of it blew me away – this idea that cells lurking at the back of your nose regenerate themselves. It gets freakier as doctors were able to move the cells into the spinal column and discover they do the exact same thing. Wow.
There is no denying that the work of the doctors who made the discovery is amazing. The Polish man, who agreed to do the trial without knowing if it would work, shows bravery too. He was unsure of the results too. If it didn’t work, what would have been his reaction?
It actually did make me stop and think. It did look like a possible game changer. Channel 4 covered the story and followed it up with a stunning debate with two successful women, one a TV presenter and the other a policewoman, who both have spinal injury. You can watch it here.
Their honesty is so refreshing. The cure won’t happen in their lifetimes and they want to be seen as more than their disabilities. They dodged the silver bullet and sent it back in the direction from where it came. They understood the research instils hope for future generations but they decided they were contented with how they lived their lives right now.
This week’s news is undoubtedly an signal of incredible progress but let’s not think that everyone who has a spinal injury may want to avail of such therapy. Let’s not be tempted just to define them solely in terms of their injury. If we just do that, my memory of PC Olds has the potential of repeating itself and that is not what’s needed at all.
