The Sky's the Limit: Quadriplegia Doesn't Stop Skydiving Enthusiasts

Watch the below video, courtesy of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, to see how Randy Haims, a wheelchair-bound man on a ventilator, made his dream of skydiving a reality. A little disclaimer: While we're not necessarily encouraging you all to go skydiving, we are encouraging you to go out and challenge the limits and make what might seem impossible, possible. 

As fellow skydiving enthusiast Kim Anderson, PhD, says in the video, "You have to get back into life and you have to keep trying. The more you try and the more you prove people wrong, that you can do things, the more satisfaction you feel from that. It's the freedom I've been looking for for the last 15 years that I've been injured."

For more videos on people testing the limits and living their lives, check out the Sports & Recreation section on the Reeve Foundation's website:

http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/c.ddJFKRNoFiG/b.5848659/k.5E06/Reeve_Foundation_Videos.htm

"One small nibble for a woman, one giant bite for BCI"

In our second ever post on “What’s Making Headlines?” we featured an incredible story about Cathy Hutchinson and a team of MGH and Brown University researchers that was helping her overcome her quadriplegia and move a robotic arm with her thoughts. For the first time in 15 years, Cathy took a sip of her morning coffee all on her own.

In the below video, meet Jan Scheuermann. Just like Cathy, an unexpected medical condition interrupted Jan’s life and took away her independence. When Jan was introduced to the brain-computer interface (BCI) studies being done at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, she set a goal of once again feeding herself a piece of chocolate. Watch as this amazing technology and the dedicated researchers involved help Jan accomplish her goal and regain a sense of independence she hasn’t felt in 10 years. As Jan describes, “This is the ride of my life. This is the rollercoaster. This is skydiving. It’s just fabulous, and I’m enjoying every second of it.”

For more, click here for the UPMC’s BCI website or click here to watch a segment featured on 60 Minutes...