Source: Torontosun
By Thane Burnett
As she prepares for one of her greatest adventures, Cheryl Paget had to cancel a few appointments over the past weeks.
There was a skydiving lesson. And, before she begins the ski season again, there was a chance to go hang- gliding.
But Cheryl just couldn't make the exhausting dates. She was upstairs in the master bedroom of her Streetsville home, trapped by a busted elevator that wasn't going anywhere and pain by which constantly shoots everywhere.
Paralyzed from the waist down following a horseback riding accident three years ago, the 48-year-old widow -- whose husband died in a car crash on 9/11 -- often finds herself in places that would, under the circumstances, seem incredible.
But her next journey -- helped along by an angel with metal wings -- may make the other outings seem almost ordinary. Unable to tap into stem-cell research in North America, Cheryl will soon travel to China to undergo a procedure she hopes will take her places that Canadian doctors have said weren't worth dreaming about.
"If all it does is control some pain, it'll be well worth it," she says of the $17,500 US series of stem-cell infusions.
Since being thrown from her horse, Robie, onto a metal fence, Cheryl's paralyzed legs constantly tingle, her back feels like someone is pushing a blade in and her abdominal muscles have pulled themselves into hurtful knots.
Chinese doctors believe by opening up her broken back, taking out dead material and introducing millions of vibrant stem cells -- culled from umbilical cords -- her body may be able to, in limited ways, start to repair itself.
She does not expect to walk away from her wheelchair but instead wants to reach smaller victories. Ones which could make it easier to simply go to the bathroom.
"If someone ever says, 'You can't,' I make sure I can," she explains from her chair in her bedroom. An elevator repairman, on the floor below, is busy trying to make her busted metal gateway go up and down again.
"But it doesn't take much to trap me," she knows.
Even trying to sort out who would accompany her to China's Nanshan Hospital -- part of their policy -- was a burden. Until retired Air Canada pilot, Jens Hansen, flew to the rescue. A long-time family acquaintance -- though not previously a close friend -- Jens has offered to use his credited, retirement-allotted flying miles to take Cheryl to China. Once there, he'll stay with her for the entire month.
"I thought my guardian angel must be looking after me," says Cheryl, who, thanks to her husband's life insurance, is able to handle the extraordinary costs involved.
"I know her family and know she's put up a good fight," says Jens. "I told my wife if I can help, then I have to do it."
Their trip of hope will take her halfway around the globe -- but she's not blazing an entirely new trail. Other Canadians have been to the hospital before her.
Among them was Timothy Graf, and five of his relatives, including his ailing 19-year-old daughter, Kymberly. The Saskatoon family all suffer from spinocerebellar ataxia type 2, which is a debilitating disease characterized by the slowing of body processes. It's often associated with poor hand co-ordination, poor speech and erratic eye movement. Last month Timothy lost a brother to the disease. It was his second sibling to die from it.
In April, the same Beijing-based biotechnology company that is supplying Cheryl with her umbilical cord stem cells did the same for 45-year-old Timothy and his daughter. Four other relatives underwent the controversial procedure, which, in North America and elsewhere, has been oppressed by moral and medical questions.
"It's frustrating that we had to go so far for this," says Timothy, who spent $40,000 for his and his daughter's operations. "Here in Canada, they hand you a wheelchair. At least over there they're trying something else."
The results for his family were not miraculous but they were remarkable. All of the members say they have seen limited recovery, which started with the loss of the ghostly stares associated with the affliction.
Injections of stem cells into the cerebral spinal cord fluid have meant Kimberly's speech has improved, along with her balance and ability to type. Family members, doubling over for years with cramps, have seen that pain subside.
PARAPLEGICS TREATED
"We're able to pay for that," says Timothy, who owns a Home Hardware store. "But what about those who can't?"
While he was at Nanshan Hospital, he watched paraplegics who were being treated undergo noticeable improvement.
Even small progress would be a godsend for Cheryl, who lives for pushing boundaries. A year after being paralyzed, she got back on a horse. Her vintage 1982 Fiat is equipped with hand controls. She's on the slopes -- on a ski sled -- with her daughters and plans to soon be in the air.
But it's all with the help of others, including a selfless pilot who wants to do good with the miles he's earned.
But where she dreams of one day being, is a foot closer to the independent woman she was before crashing down in 2003. No place, she explains, is totally out of reach.
Some time soon after coming back from China, she has one more appointment.
It's to once again ride Robie, the horse which threw her.
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