United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I would like to hear from young adult's or parents whose children who has or had brachial plexus injuries and would like to hear their stories, and the status of the injuries. My daughter was diagnosed with it a year ago and I would like to see the general time it takes for movement after nerve transplant surgery.

Hi,
NHere's our story in a nutshell. Our son Eric was injured last August 10 in a cycling race. He ejected of his bike at 70 km/hr, and hit a guardrail. He had a huge open fracture of the clavicle and bpi at c5/6. Had some wrist movement, and moderate use of hand and fingers, nothing in the arm.

He started to see some biceps flickers in mid-november. Went to the Mayo Nov.28. They did EMG's and found little else. They proposed to do a nerve graft from the leg, plus nerve transfers, in an 8-hour procedure in January. But by Jan.24, our next visit, he had signals in all muscles but the deltoid. It is innervated by the axillary nerve, which is the nerve that takes the longest to recover, partly because it has the most distance to go.

He has been doing physio at least 2x a week since the beginning of September. Plus he does weight training for cycling.

They rescheduled for March 22. Nothing seems to be happening with the deltoid, so we are expecting that Eric will have a nerve transfer from the tricips to the deltoid. They say it's only a three-hour operation and we can go home 2 days later.

So that's the plan, and we will keep our fingers crossed that the surgery works. Hope this helps.

My son Masen who is four was hit by a truck and then run over he then got caught and dragged which caused his brachial plexus injury,C3 through T1.This happened July 13, 2006. He just had nerve surgery January 18,2007 at Mayo and they say that it could take up to a year before we see movement. He has some involuntary movement in his fingers so obviously there is a little thread left somewhere. He just had his fourth birthday and we are so thankful to have him, when there was a time when we were not sure he was going to be with us. TK

Well my story starts like this. I play semi pro football in Ontario,Canada. On June 10th , 2006 I was going in for a tackle when the running back at the last second dropped his helmet on my left side of my neck/shoulder area. This caused me to pass out on impact and to lose all feeling from the neck down. I had a total avulsion of my C5-C8 and T1. I am having lots of pain as it is also cold now in Ontario. I had a never tranfer operation on Dec 1, 06. At this point nothing has come back but I do get these feelings in my arm like it wants to move but can't just. Along as you keep the faith strong everything will work out fine.

Dustin's story is like this: On Nov 2, 2005 he was headed back to college when his car was hit by 2 semi trucks. He had multiple life threatening injuries. Most have healed, but we are still working on the TBPI. In May of 2006 they went in to look at the BP, no avulsions. Stretch from c4-7. Hand works fine. They cleaned out scar tissue and decided to let things heal on their own. Things are improving but no functional movement yet. He can move almost normal in water and laying on his side. He continues to do exercises in the hopes of no more surgery, but they have said when improvement stops muscle transfer can be used if needed.

So, what's your daughter's story Sandra? If you don't mind sharing.
Sue

Sandra, My daughter, Melanie was a passenger on a motorcycle coming home from work on November 13, 2005. They were rounding a curve 3 blocks from our home when they slid on grass and plowed into a telephone pole. The driver died on impact and my daughter was life flighted to the trauma center with multiple life threatening injuries. She spent almost 6 weeks in the hospital and under went 3 major surgeries. That was when she was 20 years old. She had nerve and muscle transfers at the Mayo clinic in May 2006. C5-T1 were avulsed. She is getting movement now in her arm and gross movement in her hand. They weren't able to do the contralateral C7 so she will not regain shoulder movement. But she is alive and doing well. She's able to eat and drink and function normally except for her right arm. She's attending college part time and working full time. We are very blessed that she is here with us today. Sue

This is from T.R.Ramesh (Age 32). i had drived the motorcycle coming home from work on 7 January, 2006. They were ATM, While took the money and came outside of the road, the lorry came and hitted me. The driver caughted by police. I was admitted for first treatment as facial bone fracture. after two months i went treatment for Traumatic brachial Plexus injury. i spent almost 12 weeks in the hospital and under went 2 major surgeries. i had nerve graft and muscle transfers at Right hospital in 21 Feb 2006. C5-T1 were avulsed. After 14 moths of prime surgery i didn't get any little movement in my hand. I can able to eat and drink and function normally except for my right arm. i am working full time. Now i am daily taking electronic simulation (galvanic) and Physical passive excise. I will pray to god for my hand recovery. Hope fully i will get soon.


Message was edited by: trr_amesh