Published Saturday October 8th, 2011 in the Daily Gleaner COLIN MCPHAIL writes that The Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation was the focus of attention on the second day of the Fredericton leg of the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Man In Motion Relay.
Thanks to the centre and an inspiration offered by Rick Hansen, Wilf Torunski, who has been in a wheelchair for the past 41/2 years drove there from his home in St. Stephen.
After suffering a spinal column injury caused by a bacterial infection, Torunski, 69, was on the brink of death and left without the ability to use his legs.
“I couldn’t even wiggle my toes,” he said to the crowd of more than 40 at the Stan Cassidy therapeutic recreational centre Friday morning.
“I went through a near-death experience. I couldn’t tell the difference between day and night. I was still hallucinating.”
He said his wife Donna was the catalyst to begin rehabilitation. Even though his chances of recovery were slim because of his age, 65 at the time, and his height, 6’3″, she kept pushing him and still does.
On Friday, Torunski sat in his wheelchair on the outdoor gazebo, dressed in the blue and yellow Rick Hansen relay tracksuit with the participation medal slung around his neck, with Hansen, Energy Minister Craig Leonard and Stan Cassidy medical director Dr. Rob Leckey.
Torunski underwent intensive physiotherapy at the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre in Vancouver. He was accepted into the first Lokomat Research Project under Dr. Tania Lam at the Blusson Centre – the home of the Rick Hansen Institute. The project was designed to ensure patients could walk using a walker.
After the successful experiment, the couple moved across the country to settle in St. Stephen. The Canadian Paraplegic Association of New Brunswick – now called Ability NB – then turned him on to the Stan Cassidy centre. He said he was thrilled with his progress.
“If I could get to as far as walking with a walker or getting into a car, I’d be happy,” he said.
However, he felt the urge to continue and push his limits. Now that he could stand with a walker, he asked the centre to help him reach the next step.
“That’s what this place has done,” Torunski said, beaming.
The technology and therapy provided him with the tools to operate a vehicle on his own. Four years after being told he would never walk again, Torunski is driving to his rehabilitation sessions in Fredericton two to three times a week – with supervision, of course.
“In all the years since our tour, there has been a tremendous evolution and revolution in health care, as well as new hope for with spinal cord injuries,” Hansen said to the crowd.
He said the odds of some form of recovery has jumped from 30 per cent to 70 per cent since he embarked on his Man In Motion journey 25 years ago.
The LegTutor and its sister devices (HandTutor, ArmTutor and 3DTutor) have been used in physiotherapy with victims of Spinal Column Injury and MS for some time now.
The Tutor system is used in an inpatient, outpatient and home rehabilitation environment as an aid in order to achieve the patient’s functional ability goal as much as possible. The Tutor system consists of ergonomic wearable devices together with powerful dedicated rehabilitation software.
It is designed for those who have head, trunk, upper and lower extremity movement dysfunction as a result of stroke, Parkinson’s disease, CP or post arm and leg surgery in addition to those mentioned above. The system consists of motivating and challenging games that allow the patient to practice isolated and/or interjoint coordination exercises. Controlled exercise practice will help to prevent the development of compensatory movement patterns. The dedicated software allows the therapist to fully customize the exercises to the patient’s movement ability. In addition the therapist can objectively and quantitatively evaluate and report on the treatment progress. The rehabilitation system optimizes the patient’s motor, sensory and cognitive performance and allows the patient to better perform everyday functional tasks to improve their quality of life. The Tutor system is FDA and CE certified.
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