Michigan native to pilot specially-equipped hand control car in rookie title challenge

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. – Junior formula car standout JDC MotorSports is excited to announce that paralyzed racer Michael Johnson will be part of its multi-car title challenge in the 2012 edition of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. The 19 year-old will make history this coming season, as he becomes the first paralyzed driver to compete in the Mazda Road to Indy program, piloting a specially-equipped hand control car.

For JDC MotorSports and Johnson, the 2012 USF2000 Championship season marks the latest step in a partnership that started in the summer of 2011. With the ultimate goal of not only competing, but fighting for top honors in the renowned driver development series, the Michigan native will get behind the wheel of a Mazda-powered Van Diemen that has been converted to hand controls by JDC MotorSports with input from INDYCAR and USF2000 technical staff and officials. The Skip Barber Racing front-runner, will partner fellow series rookies Neil Alberico, Scott Hargrove, and Zac Silver under the JDC awning, having already accumulated more than nine full test days in the specially-equipped car.

“I cannot even tell you how excited the entire team is to add Michael to our 2012 roster,” stated  JDC MotorSports team principal John Church. “Obviously this is a unique program, and during testing Michael has shown us that he will be up to the task and be competitive in our run for the championship in 2012.”

“I’m so psyched to be competing in the USF2000 Championship with John Church and JDC MotorSports!” commented Johnson. “My journey to compete in open-wheel racing has required unique attention, and I want to thank all the people who supported the efforts to get us on the Mazda Road to Indy. INDYCAR and the USF2000 series have been supportive in working with us to make this happen. Many thanks to John and the entire JDC Motorsports team who made a miracle happen with the preparation of the car, and when we go racing next week in the Winterfest it will be a dream come true. I also want to thank my family, especially my mom, dad, and my grandfather, as well as my manager Matthias Czabok, PR person Maria Jannace, and driver coach Grant Maiman. They all worked so hard to put this all together.”

Johnson was an extremely successful amateur motorcycle racer, winning 14 national championships by the age of 12. On August 13, 2005, he was involved in a dirt track racing accident, which left him paralyzed from the mid chest down. After a long road to recovery of nearly two years, he received the green light from his doctors to again participate in physical activities. In 2007, Johnson returned to motorsports competition, racing karts which were modified to be driven with hand controls. Not surprisingly, it was not long until Johnson started winning again, capturing the Junior SuperCan class championship, earning Driver of the Year honors. Continuing his winning ways in the Great Lakes Pro Series – scoring six victories in the Rotax class – the teenager elected to make the transition to car competition in 2009. Johnson, piloting a car modified to be driven with hand controls, made his debut in the Skip Barber Racing series. After running a partial schedule in 2010, the talented racer ran the entire Skip Barber Summer Series in 2011, scoring three wins and seven podium finishes en route to third place in the title fight.

JDC MotorSports and Johnson will officially commence their 2012 season on February 6-7, when the No. 54 Universal Coating/Coloplast/FlatOutNation.com/Red Line Oil/JDC MotorSports entry takes to Sebring International Raceway for the opening tripleheader of the Cooper Tires Winterfest. The chase for Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda supremacy gets underway on March 16-17, with Rounds One and Two at Sebring as part of the 60th Anniversary Mobil1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

JDC MotorSports races with associate sponsorship from www.RedLineOil.com.

Additional information on JDC MotorSports can be obtained from the team’s website @ www.jdcmotorsports.com For direct contact, please contact John Church @ 952-233-3075.

Learn more about Michael Johnson at www.michaeljohnsonracing.com.

FEATURING

WALK THE LINE TO SCI RECOVERY

AND

ERICA COULSTON

Walk The Line To SCI Recovery and Erica Coulston were featured on THE HEART OF DETROIT which aired JANUARY 26 during the 5pm broadcast on WDIV Channel 4 News.
We are extremely honored and excited to highlight Walk The Line as the World’s leading SCI Recovery program. Please tune in as Erica takes Mitch on a tour of our state of the art facility and shares her story.
The Heart of Detroit is a groundbreaking public service initiative. Airing weekly during Local 4 News (Detroit) at 5 p.m. and then on TheHeartOfDetroit.org, The Heart of Detroit will share inspiring stories of metro Detroiters with heart and everyday people who step up to help make our community a better place to live. Viewers will follow Mitch through documentary-style videos as he profiles unsung local heroes who spend countless hours sacrificing to make others less hungry, less troubled, less impoverished or just a little happier.
“I have been taught that giving is living, I see so many people in metro Detroit who live – and give – that way, but are never celebrated the way we do a rock star, actor, athlete or even a reality show figure. These unsung inspirations deserve to have their stories told. And that’s what I hope to do.” –Mitch Albom

Snapshot: Erica Coulston, president, Walk the Line to SCI Recovery

The boss as client

Home to celebrate her parents’ 25th wedding anniversary in 2001, Erica Coulston (then Erica Nader) had a life-altering auto accident that left her paralyzed. She was 23 years old. After finding little hope for recovery from traditional medical professionals, she took her recovery into her own hands, traveling the world with her family in search of the latest treatment programs.

In March 2003, Coulston became the first American to have Dr. Carlos Lima’s olfactory mucosa autografts (OMA) tissue transplant surgery in Portugal. That was followed up with a rigorous exercise-based training program that has been vital to her ongoing recovery. After her experiences seeking out recovery programs, Coulston realized that in order for others to have inspiration and hope for their own spinal cord injury (SCI) recovery, she needed to start her own program.

In 2007, with her husband and parents, Coulston started Walk the Line to SCI Recovery, a Southfield, Mich.-based program to promote and achieve recovery from a spinal cord injury.

“Walk The Line to SCI Recovery,” as stated on the website, “challenges the rules of traditional rehab by breaking down paradigms of hierarchy, including our clients in goal setting, creating unique program designs, encouraging interaction and socialization among clients, caregivers, family members, and staff.”

Womenetics: Tell me about the inspiration behind Walk the Line to SCI Recovery.
Erica Coulston: I was diagnosed with a C6/7 spinal cord injury, complete and American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Level A. Because of the severity of my injury, I was not given opportunities for recovery from traditional medical professionals during my inpatient stay. Very early on in my injury, my parents and I wished there was a “recovery” program, a sort of mecca, if you will, where anything was possible. I have never looked for a doctor, therapist, or practitioner to “heal” me. I’ve looked for those that would be willing to say, “Maybe…” And from this, the dream of what Walk the Line was born.

Womenetics: How did the dream turn into a realization?
Coulston: Walk the Line to SCI Recovery was founded in July 2007, so it took almost six years for the path to lead me to where I actually needed to be. Along the way I encountered different programs and practitioners that helped mold the vision of the recovery program that we wanted to start. In fact, I actually was kicked out of a program for advocating for myself and ultimately from that experience was thrown into realizing our dream. From the day that my parents, my husband, Ira, and I decided to start Walk the Line to SCI Recovery, it took us three weeks to find a temporary location, staff, and minimal equipment.

Womenetics: What were some of the key components, after being through this yourself, that you knew you wanted to implement into Walk the Line?
Coulston: Walk the Line has to be a place of possibilities and empowerment. We strive to provide the most aggressive and effective recovery therapy in the world, as well as providing an environment that encourages good health, community values, and independence.

Womenetics: How does Walk the Line compare to the other rehabs that you experienced?
Coulston: It doesn’t. It’s as simple as that. We are truly a client-run and client-driven facility whose sole reason and purpose for existence is recovery from a spinal cord injury. We are different on so many levels: our protocol, our staffing model, our equipment, our philosophy.

Working out at the business she founded

Womenetics: Can you explain the business model for recovery?
Coulston: In addition to helping our clients achieve their goals for physical recovery, there is an element of social and psychological recovery. Our program is designed to empower our clients in their physical and social progress. Our clients are encouraged to take an active role in their recovery therapy, and this, hopefully, carries over into other aspects of their lives. We want individuals to realize they are consumers who are paying for a service, whether it’s their physician, physical therapy, durable medical equipment, or anything else. We don’t have to be “patients.” I like to think of myself as an “impatient!”

Womenetics: Is it organized like a business?
Coulston: Walk the Line to SCI Recovery operates as a successful, privately owned small business. I am a co-owner along with Ira and my parents, Fred and Rita Nader.

Womenetics: What’s your role today?
Coulston: I am the president and director of operations. I’m not only an active client, but I also manage the floor staff and coordinate the client schedules. I am an advocate for disability rights and an accessibility consultant as well.

Womenetics: How has Walk the Line helped in your own recovery process?
Coulston: My physical recovery progressed exponentially due to the staffing ratio – two trainers for every client – and aggressive weight-bearing protocol established by our medical director, Dr. Steven Hinderer. Emotionally and psychologically I am in the best place that I have been since my injury. Being around our clients who are in similar situations has helped me tremendously. I am inspired daily by the determination and motivation of each of them. Our staff of physical therapists and trainers has pushed me physically and mentally to a place where my recovery is flourishing.

Womenetics: What has been your biggest challenge in setting this up?
Coulston: The biggest challenge for me has been balancing the demands of running a growing business and making the time to commit to my own recovery. They are both full-time jobs.

Womenetics: Where did the funding come from to start and grow your business?
Coulston: Walk the Line to SCI Recovery was self-funded from money that I had saved for a “rainy day.” Fortunately I have been able to pay myself back over the last four years.

Womenetics: What do you do to build for the future growth?
Coulston: The foundation of a business is the relationships that you create, and this helps prepare for future growth. In our case, we build long-lasting relationships with our clients, case managers, doctors, and other service providers that have all come to know and respect our commitment to providing quality customized recovery programs to each of our clients. And with these relationships, we will continue to do so.

Womenetics: Who has inspired you and mentored you the most?
Coulston: My husband, Ira, is amazing. He is very supportive and levelheaded. I have learned a lot from my parents, Fred and Rita. They have run many small businesses together and have been supportive role models throughout this process. Our staff and clients are, hands down, some of the best people I know. Also, I am fortunate to have family and friends who are daily sources of inspiration and motivation.

Womenetics: What do you do to take time for yourself outside of work?
Coulston: Being part of a small, family-owned business is definitely a full-time job with non-traditional hours. There is no punching out at 4:30, but I am learning to set aside times of the day to focus on work, my recovery, my family, and having a bit of fun, too. My husband and I like to get together with friends, walk our dog, and go for the occasional swim.

Corinne Garcia is a freelance writer and editor living with her husband and two young boys in Bozeman, Mont. She has also written for Women’s Adventure, Christian Science Monitor, Northwest Travel, Pregnancy, Fit Pregnancy, and Fit Parent.

Click here for original story

Michigan’s no-fault auto insurance law are the subject of hearings that opened in the state capitol Tuesday.

The rising cost of health care is leading members of Michigan’s insurance industry to push for changes in the state’s no-fault auto insurance law that offers unlimited lifetime injury and rehabilitation benefits, according to Pete Kuhnmuench, executive director of the Insurance Institute of Michigan.

“We’ve recognized some real problems in our no-fault system, long term, that we’d like to address and that’s the escalating cost that come with that unlimited lifetime medical benefit,” Kuhnmuench said.

But, supporters of the law, like John Truscott, say changing it will leave many people out in the cold.

“We limit the amount of lawsuits. We limit the amount of harm and damage to the drivers and we provide probably one of the best rehab-type service facilities in full coverage for traumatic injuries of anywhere in the country,” Truscott said. “For paying a few dollars more a year, you’re getting the best coverage and the best protection of any state in the country.”

Some emotional testimony Tuesday included that of Erica Nader Coulston from Southfield who was paralyzed in a car accident a decade ago. She said no fault insurance allowed her to receive the care she needed.

“I’m not 100 percent completely independent in my daily needs, but I am more independent that I was 10 years ago or even three years ago because I am able to continue with my rehabilitation,” Coulston said.

Coulston owns Walk the Line to SCI Recovery, a rehab center in Southfield, which helps people regain mobility. She said the insurance company claim that changing the No Fault Law would result in lower premiums is misleading.

“There is nothing in the bill that says insurance rates will go down,” Coulston said, adding that without No Fault insurance, people who are badly injured in car accidents would be forced to rely on Medicare or Medicaid.

Under the two bill package before the House insurance committee, unlimited coverage would be replaced with a choice of coverage ranging from $250,000 to $5 million per person, per occurrence. It would also include a medical fee schedule as part of the effort to control medical costs.

Check him out on Fox News.

Driving a race car requires strength, intelligence, agility, quick reflexes, discipline and courage. Michael Johnson has all of that and more. He’s competing and winning against able-bodied competitors despite a huge physical challenge: he’s paralyzed from the waist down.

Johnson, who just turned 19, finished third in the Skip Barber Summer Series, driving open-wheel, open-cockpit Formula cars. While the other drivers can use their feet to accelerate and brake, and their lower body strength to hold themselves in place through the turns, Michael relies solely on his hands, with special controls for the throttle and clutch. He pushes in on the steering wheel to brake.

Michael rides a wheelchair to pit lane and gets help from his coach to climb in and out of the car.

“Other people might just sit at home, like a lot of people feel sorry for themselves…” Michael says. “You don’t have to live that life and I think I can definitely show them that you can do what you love.”

“I never think about ‘pity me, why’d it happen to me”… it’s in the past and I just move forward.”

He started racing motorcycles when he was just four years old. By the age of 12 Michael had won 14 National Championships, but then had a horrific wreck while trying to take the lead in a race on a dirt track. His body slammed into the handlebars and he broke his back, every one of his ribs on the right side, one of his legs and other bones. He was a T-5/T-6 parapalegic, paralyzed from the chest down.

“The day I got hurt I told my dad I don’t want to stop racing, don’t make me stop.” Michael says. “When I was recovering in the hospital we were researching things I could do to race and we finally found go-karts and I started from there.”

Michael’s mom Kathi was there to see his devastating crash, but still supports him and watches every race. “Don’t ever tell him he can’t do something because he’ll prove you wrong” she says, “and he already has. Nobody said that he would be able to do this and he’s already proved everybody wrong.”

“He never got depressed” she says. “Never ‘poor me poor me”… he’s always had a wonderful attitude about this whole thing and that’s what inspires everybody.”

What may be even more incredible about Michael’s story is that his condition has actually improved. He had experimental stem cell surgery in Portugal in 2007 and goes to intense physical therapy three hours a day, three days a week, and he’s now been upgraded to a L1-L2 parapalegic which means he’s regained feeling in his chest and abdomen. And while he’s still paralyzed from the hips down, he believes he will one day walk again.

“I consider myself lucky” Michael says. “It could have been a lot worse than what I am right now and it’s, it’s coming back.”

He says he doesn’t mind being considered a role model and he hopes to inspire others and he’s on his way to achieving his goal of driving and competing in the Indianapolis 500. He’s testing his new car on the famed track at the end of October and turns pro in 2012.

“He learns every lap, every corner…” says his coach, former driver Grant Maiman. “He takes it with him to the next session, to the next race, to the next weekend, to the next track, wherever it is. He’s always improving. He’s strong.”

“He’s one of the smartest I’ve seen, one of the most consistent I’ve ever seen” Maiman says. “He can absolutely do the 500, there’s no question in my mind that he WILL do the 500.”

Michael is asked if racing takes him away from his troubles. “I think it does, yeah. Takes me away from everything. When I’m winning races I’m the happiest I can be.”

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Giving a high-five. Rubbing his girlfriend’s hand. Such ordinary acts — but a milestone for a paralyzed man.

True, a robotic arm parked next to his wheelchair did the touching, painstakingly, palm to palm. But Tim Hemmes made that arm move just by thinking about it.

Emotions surged. For the first time in the seven years since a motorcycle accident left him a quadriplegic, Hemmes was reaching out to someone — even if it was only temporary, part of a monthlong science experiment at the University of Pittsburgh.

“It wasn’t my arm but it was my brain, my thoughts. I was moving something,” Hemmes says. “I don’t have one single word to give you what I felt at that moment. That word doesn’t exist.”

The Pennsylvania man is among the pioneers in an ambitious quest for thought-controlled prosthetics to give the paralyzed more independence — the ability to feed themselves, turn a doorknob, hug a loved one.

The goal is a Star Trek-like melding of mind and machine, combining what’s considered the most humanlike bionic arm to date — even the fingers bend like real ones — with tiny chips implanted in the brain. Those electrodes tap into electrical signals from brain cells that command movement. Bypassing a broken spinal cord, they relay those signals to the robotic third arm.

This research is years away from commercial use, but numerous teams are investigating different methods.

At Pittsburgh, monkeys learned to feed themselves marshmallows by thinking a robot arm into motion. At Duke University, monkeys used their thoughts to move virtual arms on a computer and got feedback that let them distinguish the texture of what they “touched.”

Through a project known as BrainGate and other research, a few paralyzed people outfitted with brain electrodes have used their minds to work computers, even make simple movements with prosthetic arms.

But can these neuroprosthetics ever offer the complex, rapid movements that people would need for more practical, everyday use?

“We really are at a tipping point now with this technology,” says Michael McLoughlin of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which developed the humanlike arm in a $100 million project for DARPA, the Pentagon’s research agency.

Pittsburgh is helping to lead a closely watched series of government-funded studies over the next two years to try to find out. A handful of quadriplegic volunteers will train their brains to operate the DARPA arm in increasingly sophisticated ways, even using sensors implanted in its fingertips to try to feel what they touch, while scientists explore which electrodes work best.

“Imagine all the joints that are in your hand. There’s 20 motions around all those joints,” says Pittsburgh neurobiologist Andrew Schwartz. “It’s not just reaching out and crudely grasping something. We want them to be able to use the fingers we’ve worked so hard on.”

The 30-year-old Hemmes’ task was a much simpler first step. He was testing whether a new type of chip, which for safety reasons the Food and Drug Administration let stay on this initial volunteer’s brain for just a month, could allow for three-dimensional arm movement.

He surprised researchers the day before the electrodes were removed. The robotic arm whirred as Hemmes’ mind pushed it forward to hesitantly tap palms with a scientist. Then his girlfriend beckoned. The room abruptly hushed. Hemmes painstakingly raised the black metal hand again and slowly rubbed its palm against hers a few times.

These emotional robotic touches have inspired researchers now recruiting volunteers for soon-to-start yearlong experiments.

“It was awesome,” is the decidedly unscientific description from the normally reserved Dr. Michael Boninger, rehabilitation chief at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “To interact with a human that way. … This is the beginning.”

___

Hemmes’ journey began in 2004. He owned an auto-detailing shop and rode his motorcycle in his spare time. Then one summer evening he swerved to miss a deer. His bike struck a guardrail. His neck snapped.

His determination didn’t. Paralyzed below the shoulders, he’s tried other experimental procedures in hopes, so far unrealized, of regaining some arm function.

“I always tell people your legs are great … but they just get you from here to there,” Hemmes says as his caregiver waits to feed him a bite of a cheeseburger near his home in Butler, north of Pittsburgh. “Your arms and fingers and hands do everything else. I have to get those back, I absolutely have to.”

His ultimate goal is to hug his 8-year-old daughter. “I’m going to do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to do that again.”

Hemmes entered an operating room at UPMC with a mix of nerves and excitement.

“It’s good anxiety,” he says. “There is so much riding on this.”

___

Think “I want that apple,” and your arm reaches out and grasps it. You’re not aware that neurons are instantaneously firing in patterns that send commands down the spinal cord — make the shoulder raise the arm, extend the elbow, flex the wrist and all five fingers.

A very similar firing occurs when you imagine movement or watch the movement you’d like to perform, explains Boninger, who with Schwartz is leading the Pittsburgh research together with a team of bioengineers, neuroscientists and physicians.

The DARPA arm was developed primarily for amputees. Separate research is under way to help them move it by using transplanted nerves to sense those brain commands. The paralyzed pose a more difficult challenge: getting those signals around a broken spinal cord.

For quadriplegic patients, scientists use implanted electrodes, called a “brain-computer interface” or BCI, to record that electrical activity. The signals move down through wires that tunnel under the skin and out by the collarbone, and are plugged into a computer or a robotic arm.

Until now, researchers mostly have tested miniature electrodes that poke inside the brain’s motor cortex and record from individual cells, presumably allowing for precise movements. Pittsburgh’s next test-patient will have two penetrating grids implanted in different parts of the cortex for a year to record from 200 cells altogether.

In contrast, Hemmes’ chip sat on the surface of his motor cortex, a less invasive method that records from groups of cells. The size of two postage stamps, it’s based on a kind of electrical signal mapping used to track seizures in epilepsy patients.

Both approaches need study, says Daofen Chen of the National Institutes of Health, who oversees neurorehabilitation research. He compares the options to eavesdropping on a party by sending in individual microphones or setting up a recorder at the window.

Boninger adds that scar tissue can blunt the penetrating electrodes over time, and the surface chips may be easier to convert to a wireless system, which is important for commercial use.

___

Hemmes’ operation took two hours. He had practiced imagining arm movements inside brain scanners, to see where the electrical signals concentrated. That’s where neurosurgeon Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara cut, attaching the chip through an inch-wide opening on the left side of Hemmes’ skull.

Two days later, Hemmes was hooked to a computer, beginning simple cursor movements. The next week, it was time to test if he could trigger real-life movement using the DARPA arm.

Hemmes reclined in his wheelchair, the robot arm bolted to a steel rod nearby. The task: make the arm reach out to grasp a ball mounted on a board.

The arm whirs forward, then stops, then goes again, then suddenly pulls back.

“It’s doing the opposite of what I ask it do,” Hemmes says in frustration. “When I think about reaching back, it goes forward.”

Dr. Wei Wang, a member of the research team, watches Hemmes’ brain patterns on a nearby computer screen, trying to match them to the robotic movements. Focus on your elbow, Wang advises.

Hemmes takes a deep breath and tries. The arm whirs forward this time, reaching the ball. The fingers clench around it.

“There’s no owner’s manual,” Hemmes says, thrilled that the back-and-forth pays off. “I’m training my brain to figure how to do all this.”

Letting go is harder, the motor growling as the arm tugs backward before the fingers fully release. Hemmes starts imagining his hand relaxing before pulling backward, and the robot hand follows.

___

Sure, a robotic hand that one day mounts to a wheelchair could be useful. But no matter how well today’s prosthetics move, they’ve got a problem: They don’t sense what they touch. Normally, instant messages flash from the skin up to the brain to say “squeeze tighter” so we don’t drop that coffee cup, or “tight enough” so we don’t hug too hard.

Besides, Hemmes shares the dream of many quadriplegics. He doesn’t want a bionic third hand. He wants to move his own hands again.

“These are all scientific goals that are very real,” Boninger says.

Recreating sensation means crafting a two-way highway with those brain chips. That’s what Duke University, in a study published last week in the journal Nature, did with its two monkeys. When the animals “touched” objects on a computer screen with their video game-like arms, electrical signals flashed back up to implanted electrodes — different signals for different textures, to tell the objects apart.

Sensors in the DARPA arm’s fingertips allow for that same kind of feedback. McLoughlin says the plan is for one of the Pittsburgh study patients to begin testing touch capability next year, with a similar attempt at the California Institute of Technology to follow.

What about moving paralyzed limbs? Duke’s plan is to turn its research into a robotic exoskeleton that would help the paralyzed move their bodies.

Hemmes is more intrigued by what’s called functional electrical stimulation, zapping muscles with electrical currents to make them move. At Hemmes’ request, Boninger’s team attempted to fit his hand with a stimulator glove that might be linked to his electrode, but it was unsuccessful. The NIH’s Chen says still other researchers are working on that kind of approach.

___

Hemmes likened moving the DARPA arm to learning to drive a car with a manual transmission. It took practice, but by week four he was moving the arm sideways as well as back and forth.

The fingers still clenched pretty tight, though. So when his girlfriend Katie Schaffer spoke up — “I want to hold your hand,” she said on his last day of testing — Hemmes didn’t dare bend them.

The two met after his accident, so he’d never before reached out to her.

“I was just trying to be gentle. I didn’t want to hurt her, and I finally got there,” Hemmes says. “Definitely the tears were flowing.”

He says he was ready for a break after almost daily scientific testing, so removing the electrode and wires the next day wasn’t a disappointment. He’s confident the researchers will call him back once the technology advances.

“I believe this is the future,” he says. “Just let people know there’s hope.”

I try not to think about what my life might be like without the rehabilitation and care I received after sustaining a cervical spinal cord injury on Oct. 7, 2001, at the age of 23.

As a passenger in a car accident, within the blink of an eye, my life changed forever. I was completely paralyzed from the chest down. I had no control of my legs and my arms. My hands were affected, and I lost control of my bladder and bowels.

After years of hard work, I can do things like wash my face, brush my teeth and other personal hygiene care. While that offers a sense of independence, I still require 24-hour care for basic needs.

No one expects to be catastrophically injured at any age.

Since my initial injury, thanks to benefits provided under the auto no-fault system, I have been able to live at home, relying on in-home care, some of which is provided by my mother and my husband.

Without this care, paid for with insurance benefits, I would be forced to overburden my family or live in an assisted care facility. The cost of my wheelchairs, commode chair, medical supplies, medications and other needs for my care and independence are covered for the duration of my, hopefully, long life.

I’m forced to consider this frightening “what-if” scenario because insurance companies are attempting to push legislation (HB 4936 and SB 649) through the Michigan Legislature that would deny such care to future Michigan accident victims and could reduce benefits to those of us already injured.

Lobbyists for insurance companies say these bills would reduce the personal injury protection portion of an insurance bill by 15%. The bills ask lawmakers to allow drivers to cap their injury and rehabilitation benefits, which would be a sweeping change from the current law.

This may seem to make sense, but take a look at your policy and you will see that personal injury protection, which pays for injury and rehabilitation costs, is a relatively small portion of a total annual bill — usually around $150. Assuming the 15% reduction on personal injury protection costs would come to pass under a new law, the insurance companies’ plans would save the average Michigan driver only $22.50 a year.

The bills do not guarantee even these minuscule savings for drivers. But even if they did, what would be the cost of these savings? For catastrophic injury victims like me, the cost could be substantial damage to quality of life and, in some cases, even life itself.

When emergency care, hospital bills and rehabilitation are taken into account, the final bill for a serious auto accident can cost millions of dollars. Seriously injured victims who purchase the proposed minimum coverage under the insurance companies’ legislation would then be forced to pay out of their own pocket or sue the other driver. This would drive up costs for policyholders and overburden our court system.

Also, when catastrophically injured accident victims find they cannot pay for their care, they will likely turn to state taxpayers in the form of Medicaid to fund their health care. This would shift millions in costs from insurance companies onto the backs of state taxpayers.

What’s worse is that this plan would create a situation in which responsible drivers would have to buy additional insurance just to protect themselves from newly underinsured drivers who elect less coverage.

Close your eyes and think about my story and my life. What if I were your daughter, granddaughter, sister, wife or mom? What would you want for them?

Erica Nader Coulston, 33, of Bloomfield Hills, is scheduled to speak to the state House Insurance Committee today. With her family, Nader Coulston owns Walk the Line to Spinal Cord Injury Recovery in Southfield.

Southfield, Michigan (September 7, 2011) Walk The Line To SCI Recovery, Inc. and Bioness, Inc. announced today that Walk The Line to SCI Recovery is the 1st spinal cord injury recovery program in the world to implement the Ness L300 Plus, a new and innovative product from Bioness, Inc that facilitates knee flexion and extension and is designed to stimulate major leg muscle groups in order to facilitate walking for people with spinal cord injury. The NESS L300 Plus System is an FDA-cleared medical device that provides patients with the ability to regain function and use of their lower extremities, which have been affected by an upper motor neuron (UMN) injury to the central nervous system.

Bioness, a high-tech medical device company in California offers award-winning medical products designed to benefit people with Stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, Traumatic Brain Injury, Cerebral Palsy, and Spinal Cord Injury. Walk The Line To SCI Recovery has enjoyed a close working relationship with Bioness for several years and has been an early adopter of Bioness medical technology for spinal cord injury recovery.

Walk The Line To SCI Recovery is one of only a handful of centers in the world that provides clients with intensive, activity-based physical therapy. State-of-the-art neuromuscular recovery techniques are used in conjunction with a team approach; two therapists and trainers work with each client for three hours, three times a week. While the majority of clients come from the Midwest, some travel from across the United States and even from overseas, including New Zealand, Switzerland and Brazil.

Walk The Line to SCI Recovery intends to use The NESS L300 Plus System to provide individuals working to recover from a spinal cord injury with regained function and use of their lower extremities. It is the first and only wireless system designed to stimulate major leg muscle groups to facilitate walking and to help patients reach rehabilitative goals more quickly.

Walk The Line To SCI Recovery first opened its doors in Ferndale in July of 2007. The center, now located in Southfield, was the brainchild of Erica Nader, 33, who suffered a spinal cord injury almost 10 years ago. Erica was determined to help herself and other individuals with spinal cord injuries receive the very latest intensive recovery training. . Today, Walk The Line has a staff of professionals including Medical Director, Physical Therapists, PT Assistants and Specialized Trainers.

“We are committed to using the latest technology available worldwide if it is designed to promote the kind of recovery we are committed to,” said Erica Nader, who is president of Walk the Line to SCI Recovery. “The Ness L300 Plus is such a technology and will make a real difference to clients as it helps them in the recovery process of learning to walk again. We believe that the Ness 300 Plus combined with our unique therapy protocol will allow our clients to see a real improvement in their ability to walk with a more natural gait.”

Erica is very involved in the social and psychological aspects of clients’ recovery processes. “Our goal is to provide a state of the art facility that encourages our clients to play an active role in their recovery therapy, a place where they know everyone believes in them and where they can achieve their maximum potential.”

Walk The Line expects to receive the Ness L300 Plus on September 13, and will start using it with clients immediately.