Cole: Pride and a Daily Marathon

[from Gary Cziko 951211.0600 GMT]

Looks like an interesting book, although I can't for the life of me figure
out why losing all one's sensation below the neck would cause any
difficulty in getting around :wink:

--Gary

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Pride and a Daily Marathon

Jonathan Cole

Foreword by Oliver Sacks

      "A story at once terrifying and inspiring. . . . It is a
      remarkable human document, a neurological epic. A
      case-history, a physiological investigation, a detective
      story and a romance."
      -- Oliver Sacks

At the age of 19 Ian Waterman was suddenly struck down at work by a
rare neurological illness that deprived him of all sensation below the
neck. He fell on the floor in a heap, unable to stand or control his limbs,
having lost the sense of joint position and proprioception, of that "sixth
sense" of his body in space, which we all take for granted. After months
in a neurological ward he was judged incurable and condemned to a life of
wheelchair dependence. This is the first U.S. publication of a remarkable
book by his physician, Jonathan Cole. It tells the compelling story,
including a clear clinical description of a rare condition, of how
Waterman reclaimed a life of full mobility against all expectations, by
mental effort and sheer courage.

Cole describes how Waterman gradually adapted to his strange condition.
As the doctors had predicted, there was no neurological recovery. He had
to monitor every movement by sight to work out where his limbs were,
since he had no feedback from his peripheral nerves. But with astonishing
persistence Waterman developed elaborate tricks and strategies to
control his movements, enabling him to cope not only with the day-to-day
problems of living, but even with the challenges of work, love, and
marriage.

      A Bradford Book
      ISBN 0-262-53136-4
      194 pp.
      $14.95 (paper)