Chris Bath: 'One in six will have one…'

Posted: Published on March 27th, 2015

This post was added by Dr Simmons

SN BLOG Chris Bath: 'One in six will have one...'

We started pursuing this story because there are thousands of Australian stroke survivors desperate to regain their independence. Theres a stroke in Australia every ten minutes. One in six of us will have one. Thats a lot of people left with often permanent disability - about half a million Australians so far and climbing.

There is no treatment for stroke, apart from rehabilitation.

And rehab is hard yakka. Even if you have the motivation and drive to do it after a stroke, access to it in Australia is extraordinarily difficult for tens of thousands of people.

There are some great rehab practitioners out there, but most stroke survivors and their carers can attest that finding them, and then getting treated by them, is mission impossible.

I know exactly how hard it is, because five years down the track from the stroke that nearly killed my father, Im still watching my parents frustrations with rehab availability.

So imagine the interest among stroke survivors with news a simple injection could give them back some of what the stroke took away.

An American clinic, the Institute of Neurological Recovery, has been injecting stroke patients with a drug called Etanercept, and reversing the effects of stroke in varying degrees for hundreds of patients.

When you know how tough the stroke rehab road can be, you can understand how an unconventional, untrialled, treatment is giving hope to thousands of stroke survivors, even if the medical community is skeptical.

When Nathan Jones contacted me about his fiancee Kylie Newlove and told me they were fundraising to get her to America to try the treatment so she could be a hands on mum again, we tagged along for the ride.

Read more from the original source:
Chris Bath: 'One in six will have one...'

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