Question
Dear Leslie
 My brother Chris just turned 25 and last JAN he shattered his C4 and severed part of his spinal cord. After immediate surgery he regained small movement in his hands and arms very little in his head and neck. He can feel other parts of his body... his right foot, but not the left foot, his left knee but not always his right. Is there any hope that he may recover some more movement of his body?
 Is there any stem cell research that may help of other corrective surgeries that you may know have that I have not come across?
 Thank you for your time.
Katherine

Answer
hi katherine-
i am sorry to hear about your brother. unfortunately incomplete injuries such as his are very difficult to see the future of. my inclination is to say that he will not likely get much more back than he has now- though i cannot say this absolutely. usually if there is swelling in the cord it can take around 6 months to go down- hence you have some return of feeling or movement. there are occasions where it takes up to a year, but mostly it happens at first.

as for new treatments- you can try looking up stem cell research in the UK or Russia, but here in the states we have such a divide over it (fetal tissue, etc) that there hasn't been much new that I have heard of. frankly, even the news i've heard from the UK, people who are neurosurgeons, i don't have any sort of 'miracle' reports. and the russian side of things i know very little about, hence i'd hate to recommend you anything based on it.

apologies, as i know these are unpleasant answers. if I come across anything i will add to this post. please write in again if there is something i have left out

good luck to you both
leslie