By Dave Andrusko

I am old enough not only to remember when Marc Buoniconti was paralyzed 25 years ago making a tackle in a football game, I also remember his father, Nick, playing for the Miami Dolphins! All these memories came rushing back this morning when I read, "Marc Buoniconti paralyzed on the field, but not in life," which ran in USA Today.

The story is incredibly inspirational, and I would encourage anyone to read it. (www.usatoday.com/sports/football/2010-09-23-marc-buoniconti-citadel-paralyzed-miami-project_N.htm.) It's of particular relevance to us for two reasons.

First, Marc's injury left him never again able to move his arms or legs on his own. He is honest in his discussion with USA Today's Erik Brady. The tube in his throat initially saved his life, but he hated it, and he sank into depression. The story is a little sketchy on what got him out of it, but clearly it was a combination of Marc's own toughness, his dad's refusal to "accept" that nothing could be done, and the work of a project on spinal injuries at the University of Miami.

The point, obviously, is many other people with major spinal cord injuries don't have that kind of support. They could easily conclude that their life is "not worth living."

The other direct connection to us is what Barth Green, the neurosurgeon Buoniconti has worked with for years, talked about with Brady.

"Green expects real breakthroughs in coming years," Brady writes. "'We expect to be doing FDA-approved clinical trials on injecting Schwann cells into people's spinal cords' next year, he says."

"Schwann cells"? Brady says "in oversimplified terms," they "are sheathes that wrap and support neurons -- sort of the glue of the peripheral nervous system." The plan is "to use patients' own Schwann cells to promote nerve growth in damaged spinal cords, a procedure that shows promise in lab animals."

And while I would certainly not hype something I know so little about, it is significant that these are Buoniconti's own cells, not embryonic stem cells.