MRC News

Tansey leaves notable legacy as president of American Spinal Injury Association

As he winds up his two-year tenure as president of the American Spinal Injury Association, Dr. Keith Tansey of Ridgeland, Miss., can look back on a number of notable initiatives.

But he’s probably proudest of ASIA’s push to increase interactions between researchers who study spinal cord injury and the physicians who treat SCI patients.

As a neurologist who has a Ph.D. in spinal cord physiology, Tansey uniquely understands the potential of such collaborations. Indeed, it’s what brought the physician-scientist to Mississippi in 2016.

Starkville clinic to mark seventh Methodist Orthotics & Prosthetics location

For Billy Joe Robinson, making the drive from his Starkville home to Methodist Orthotics & Prosthetics in Flowood has been worth it.

“I’ve always gone there, even though there were places closer to home, because they’ve been real good to me,” he said. “They’ve always helped me out in any way they could.”

Now, thanks to Methodist O&P’s dedication to bringing comprehensive services and care to patients across the state, that drive is about to get a lot shorter. The provider is set to open its seventh clinic in Starkville in early February.

‘Every muscle in my body was paralyzed’: Methodist Rehab helps John ‘Bones’ Cossar reach goal to play golf again

John “Bones” Cossar has been flaunting his golf scorecard lately.

But it has nothing to do with proving whether he eagled, birdied or parred.

For Cossar, just making it to a tee box is evidence of an evolution he feared he’d never make. Just nine months ago, he couldn’t move a muscle, let alone swing a club.

“Every muscle in my body was paralyzed,” said the chairman emeritus of Mississippi Valley Title Insurance in Ridgeland. “I couldn’t wiggle a finger. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t swallow. I was on a breathing machine and a feeding tube.”

National orthotic/prosthetic organization names Larry Word of Jackson new president

When John O’Neal’s lower right leg was amputated after a horse riding accident, the South Mississippi farmer struggled to manage his 400 acres.

He was basically crippled by an ill-fitting prosthesis.

Then he began seeing Larry Word at Methodist Orthotics & Prosthetics in Hattiesburg. “And it was a like new era for me,” O’Neal said.

“Larry made me a new leg, and that thing fit like a glove. I couldn’t even work with my other leg, and now I work seven days a week. As far as I’m concerned, Larry’s the best. I got nothing bad to say about him--except he left.”

‘Without oxygen for four and a half minutes’: Therapy at Methodist Rehab helps Byram police officer return to the force after suffering a brain injury from oxygen deprivation

Police officers go to work every day knowing that anything can happen. Just ask Bryam’s Sgt. Scott Lawrence.

“In August of 2016, I was involved in a police pursuit that ended in a crash and a fight with an armed robbery suspect,” he said. “During the fight, my neck got injured.”

But it would be a brain injury that put Lawrence in inpatient therapy at Methodist Rehabilitation Center, beginning a year-long road to recovery.

It happened after Lawrence elected for surgery to fix a herniated disc in his neck.

Ridgeland couples turn giving back into family affair at Methodist Rehab

After love, marriage, baby carriages and such, some couples are renewing their vows—to volunteer.

Two sets of married retirees from Ridgeland are spending their spare time helping out at Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson. And they’ve done so well, MRC Volunteer Coordinator/Human Resources Recruiter Eliza Ueltschey hopes to find more do-goodin’ duos.

“It’s a great thing for a couple to do together,” she said. “And I think patients really enjoy it when they find out volunteers are a husband and wife team.”

“It felt like God was directing us”: Quest to walk again leads Delta rice broker to seek expertise of Methodist Rehab

J.D. Mathis isn’t wild about change.

The rice broker still writes business orders longhand. And he relies on old-fashioned flip phones to reach his customers.

So what would possess him to abruptly leave the familiarity of his Cleveland home and move 130 miles away?

Because he felt his future depended on it. After a paralyzing car accident, Mathis wanted the best chance to walk again. And that desire led him to Methodist Outpatient Therapy in Flowood, a division of Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson.

Spirited comeback: Benton Academy cheerleader pushing to reclaim pompoms after disabling wreck

In the world of cheerleading, you’ve got to be able to “stand up and holler.”

So Anna Lauren Green has every reason to feel frustrated.

The Benton Academy cheerleader can holler, alright, but standing up is still a work in progress. Since an Aug. 18 car crash, she’s been nursing two broken legs and a fractured left wrist.

But she’s feeling more confident about her recovery after finishing a week and a half of inpatient therapy at Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson.

‘Upside down paraplegic’ benefits from Methodist Rehab’s research on crippling muscle stiffness

Andrew Pates Jr. was on the cusp of a new adventure.

Once a teacher near Chicago and later a lawyer in San Diego, the 68-year-old retiree was ready to move to Mound Bayou and build a hotel. Then a freak fall in a parking lot put everything on hold.

“I hit the back of my head and they said if I had taken the blow a little higher, I would have been DOA,” Pates said.

Instead, he survived the accident only to become “an upside down paraplegic.” His legs could move, but his upper body was rigid.

“My shoulders were frozen and getting progressively worse,” he said.

'Don’t let me die, I’ve got a baby on the way’: After being paralyzed in a car wreck, Eupora man pushes hard to prepare for son’s birth

Like a lot of new fathers, Frank Elam Sr. of Eupora was awed by the arrival of his firstborn on Aug. 9.

“It was not real to me until that point,” he said. “Then I was like: ‘Oh man, this is a human—my little human.’”

Just 40 days before, it was up in the air whether Elam would be on hand to welcome his son into the world. On June 30, a car wreck paralyzed Elam, just a month before the original due date for Franklin Darnell Elam Jr.

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