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 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Kids with spinal cord injuries don't just struggle with paralysis. Many times their major organs -- like the bladder -- don't work properly. It forces them to rely on catheters, but now a risky surgery could provide a new option to improve their quality of life.
Ten-year-old Adam Byrum has spent his life in and out of hospitals.
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"It doesn't really feel like nothin','" Adam told Ivanhoe. "Just hurry up and get it over with."
At nine months, he had a cancerous tumor removed from his spine, leaving him paralyzed.
"That would be a feeling I would not even wish upon my worst enemy," Tony Byrum, Adam's mother, told Ivanhoe. "Never."
Now he's waiting for a kidney transplant. But first, he needs to gain control of his bladder.
"Then the transplant will be less likely to fail," Gerald Tuite, M.D., a pediatric neurosurgeon at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., told Ivanhoe.
 Doctors are turning to an experimental surgery called the Xiao procedure. It works by rewiring nerves in the spine.
"We take a small portion of the nerve that usually controls motor function or movement in the leg and we cut it and splice it to a nerve that usually controls bowel and bladder function," Dr. Tuite said.
If successful, doctors say the results are bizarre but extraordinary. Adam would be able to scratch an area on his thigh to activate his bladder. In a U.S. pilot study, 12 kids had the surgery -- with mixed results. More than half saw improvement, but those with spinal cord injury saw no change. In China, doctors claim an 87 percent success rate. Results take six to 18 months.
"I want him off dialysis," Tony said. "I want him healthy. I want him to be able to go to school five days a week."
For now, he's keeping his mom busy -- a brave kid who rolls with whatever comes his way.
 Adam is still waiting to find out if he can receive a new kidney. The biggest risk of the experimental surgery is leg weakness. The procedure costs between $40,000 and $50,000 and is not covered by insurance. The kids who saw the most improvement in the study had a condition called spina bifida, a birth defect that causes permanent disability.
More Information
Click here for additional research on Experimental Surgery for Paralyzed Kids
Click here for Ivanhoe's full-length interview with Dr. Tuite
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Melissa Medalie at mmedalie@ivanhoe.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
All Children's Hospital
St. Petersburg, FL
(727) 898-7451
www.allkids.org
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
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