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An Albertan paralyzed from the chest since he broke his neck in a trampoline park is heading to the United States for an experimental treatment that, he hopes, will help him walk to new.
"It's not a course if I walk," said Landon Smith, 20, at CTV News.
In January 2017, Smith sustained an injury at a trampoline park in Sherwood Park, Alberta, near Edmonton, after making a jump into a foam pit, his neck seeming to come into contact with the concrete floor landing.
Smith has now been accepted to participate in a clinical trial at the University of Miami where his own cells will be used to try to help him heal.
"I'll be the only Canadian," said Landon. "I am the youngest person in the world to be accepted in the trial."
Essentially, scientists at the University of Miami are considering harvesting nerve cells in the back of Smith's leg, using them to generate millions of extra cells, and then injecting them in weeks later. spinal cord. regeneration.
Smith will travel to Miami in October and stay there for at least 10 months. Although the cost of treatment is covered by the study, he and his family will be at the mercy of the nursing care and living expenses they collect to cover their expenses.
As Smith works to recover, his mother, Brenda Smith, is lobbying to change the way trampolines are operated and regulated in the country.
In Canada, these facilities regulate themselves. In addition, Health Canada has not updated its trampoline safety page since 2006.
Although data on trampoline injuries in Canada are not readily available, according to a US child-only study, the number of injuries in trampoline parks increased from less than 600 in 2010 to nearly 7,000 in 2014.
"I am frustrated and angry because I do not want this to happen to anyone else," said Brenda Smith. "And that should not have happened at the beginning."
The Smiths also filed a $ 17 million lawsuit against the facility where Landon was injured. The owners of the park have denied any wrongdoing.
With a report from CTV National News Alberta Office Manager Janet Dirks
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