Marc Buoniconti has some words of hope and comfort for disabled actor Christopher Reeve: “We’re going to find a cure. It’s going to happen.”
The strides made by medical researchers in the 10 years since Buoniconti suffered a paralyzing injury on the football field all point in that direction.
“It’s just a step away,” he says. “When we first started, people said, `You guys are crazy.’ But (the doubters) are starting to believe.”
Researchers at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis have demonstrated it is possible to regenerate nerve tissue. And in animals they are attempting to repair spinal cord injuries by building a bridge of that regenerated tissue across or around the break.
Still, “you’re not going to wake up from an operating table and walk away,” says Naomi Kleitman, director of education and scientific liaison for the Miami Project. “It’s a natural regeneration process. It’s not (an immediate) cure. It (will be) a treatment.”
Reeve, who played Superman in several films, was paralyzed May 27 in a fall when his horse balked at a jump during an equestrian event in Virginia.
Buoniconti says he is a fan of Reeve and was devastated when he heard of the accident. “My heart just went out to him, and I pray for the best.” He sent a letter of support to the actor.
From his own experience, Buoniconti knows Reeve will need the stamina of Superman to get through the next few months. But having learned to breathe again-weaning himself off the ventilator that kept him alive for almost eight months-Buoniconti is proof it can be done.
How do you wean someone off a breathing machine? You turn it off for a short period and hope the body will find a way to gasp for air, and you keep doing it for weeks and months while the muscles learn the routine.
“The first time I went 30 seconds without the ventilator, I was afraid I would die,” he says. “But if I couldn’t get off, I wasn’t sure I wanted to live.”
The break in Reeve’s spine occurred at vertebrae C-1 and C-2, just above the spot where Buoniconti was injured-a break at C-3 vertebra and dislocation at C-4, which has left him without movement from the neck down.
“It’s going to be a very difficult time. . . . He’s fighting for his life. He’s going to have to be strong and draw strength from his family and friends,” he says of Reeve, “and trust in God.”
Buoniconti’s injury occurred at age 19 when he was tackled playing football for The Citadel in October 1985. It became the catalyst for creation of the Miami Project. His father, former All-Pro Miami Dolphin linebacker Nick Buoniconti, was the driving force.
“We named it after the Manhattan Project,” says the younger Buoniconti.
“We said if we raised enough money, we could get all the best scientists in the world to come here. We’re now the world’s largest (paralysis) research center, with more than 80 doctors, scientists and technicians working toward a cure.”
Just a month before Buoniconti’s injury, Dr. Barth Green, a University of Miami neurosurgeon, initiated a research program aimed at finding a treatment for paralysis in spite of medical history and conventional wisdom that said nerve tissue does not regenerate. Green became clinical director for the Miami Project.
By 1991, the Miami scientific team was able to show definitively that neurons from the adult central nervous system can regenerate under the right conditions.
“The brain and spinal cord have a supporting system, and that area is very hostile to regeneration,” Kleitman says. But when the tissue is given support from a nourishing cell called a Schwann cell, regeneration does occur.
Dr. Richard Bunge, who has been working with Schwann cells for 15 years, was recruited away from Washington University in St. Louis to lead the research effort in Miami.
In addition to a dozen basic science laboratories working on the problem, the Miami Project has a rehabilitation program that is getting some paralyzed people walking with the aid of strategically placed electrodes.
And its male fertility clinic has enabled nine couples to have children.
“About 90 percent (of paralyzed men) are unable to ejaculate on their own,” says Maria Amador, a registered nurse and program assistant. “We’ve found a way, a couple of ways, around that.”
She says in addition to the 10 babies already born to nine couples, there are four confirmed pregnancies. One couple is expecting triplets, and another is expecting twins.
Scott Chesney, 25, who has been part of the male fertility study, says knowing he someday can have children of his own means a lot.
“I’m not married yet, but when I found out the results of (his sperm count), I have to say that’s even more important to me than walking.” His spine was damaged by a rare illness when he was 15.
For more information on the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, call 1-800-STANDUP (1-800-782-6387).
