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By Barry Yeoman As more troops than ever are surviving the fearsome injuries of war, parents are increasingly being thrust into the role of long-term caregivers. Read full article

A man found asleep in a motorized wheelchair on a highway in northern Australia was charged with drunk driving, police said Monday. Officers in a patrol car noticed the man slumped in the stationary chair about 10 a.m. Friday on an exit lane near the tourist city of Cairns, regional traffic Inspector Bob Waters said. Cars were swerving to get around him, Waters said. The officers breath-tested the 64-year-old man, who registered a blood alcohol reading of 0.301 — more than six times the legal driving limit. He was charged with operating a vehicle while drunk and ordered to report to court on July 7, where he faces a stiff fine if convicted. "The vehicles that we normally hear about with drink driving are the family car, the truck, the motorbike," Waters said. "But there are also other classes of vehicles that are subject to drink-driving laws," including horses, bicycles, and motorized wheelchairs. The man, whose name was not released, told police he was making a ni...

When vets told Chris Evans his beloved dog should be 'written off' after losing the feeling in its hind legs, the radio DJ refused to give up hope. Enzo the German Shepherd had two herniated discs in his spine, leaving him paralysed and in pain. His 42-year-old owner made sure he received the latest treatment - and now Enzo has a bionic spine. New life: Chris Evans's dog Enzo has regained the use of its back legs again In a pioneering operation costing £5,000, the nine-year-old dog had two bolts inserted in the middle of his spine to fuse two vertebrae. The SpondyloFitz bolts - named after inventor Noel Fitzpatrick, the vet who performed the surgery on Enzo last month - have cured his pain and will stay in permanently. The dog is having extensive physiotherapy and hydrotherapy in the hope that he can one day learn to walk again. Evans told Dogs Today magazine: 'It was make or break. The procedure was potentially a highly dangerous one and one that to Noel...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Leona Helmsley's dog isn't quite as well-heeled as she used to be. Manhattan Surrogate Judge Renee Roth has reduced the trust fund for the little dog, named Trouble, from $12 million to $2 million. The remaining $10 million now goes to Helmsley's charitable foundation. The 9-year-old Maltese lives in Florida with the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel. Helmsley died last August. The court decision, made April 30, became public Monday.

LONDON (AP) -- Authorities said a man and his dog in a car survived a 200-foot fall down a remote cliff in southern England early Sunday morning. Local police believe the man was thrown clear of his vehicle when it fell halfway down the cliff, near the town of Swanage. They said the man was found barely conscious near the crumpled wreckage of his vehicle. The car had crashed onto a large ledge on the cliff face. Both the man's legs were broken. The coast guards say the man's dog, a black New Zealand sheepdog named Zin Zan, could not be found. The dog later made its own way home and was discovered underneath the kitchen table.

If You Only Knew ... Reader's Digest offered two dozen doctors a chance to tell it like it really is, and general practitioners, surgeons, shrinks, pediatricians, and other specialists took the challenge. Some wanted to be anonymous; some didn't care. But all of them revealed funny, frightening, and downright shocking things that can help you be a better, smarter patient. We're Impatient • I am utterly tired of being your mother. Every time I see you, I have to say the obligatory "You need to lose some weight." But you swear you "don't eat anything" or "the weight just doesn't come off," and the subject is dropped. Then you come in here complaining about your knees hurting, your back is killing you, your feet ache, and you can't breathe when you walk up half a flight of stairs. So I'm supposed to hold your hand and talk you into backing away from that box of Twinkies. Boy, do I get tired of repeating the stuff most...

Ok, it's over 5 hrs long! But it's the BEST description of why Impeach Bush should be your mantra. Here's the link.

TALK TO A CRIP* TUESDAY! The first Tuesday of every month is hereby proclaimed as Talk To A Crip Tuesday . NOW, THEREFORE, I, The WillaWoman, do hereby proclaim the First Tuesday of every Month as TALK TO A CRIP TUESDAY . I call upon public officials, educators, librarians, parents, and all the people of the World to observe this day with the appropriate actions outlined below. Pretty official sounding, eh?! Goals : Raise awareness of the Disabled's plight of feeling invisible or feeling like a circus freak. Demonstrate to the abled-bodied that The Disabled are just like everyone else. Cause a generational avalanche of knowledge to the abled-bodied 's children. Make the day of a lonely, ostracized Disabled Person . Actions : Say "Hello" to a Disabled Person . Nod and smile to a Disabled Person . Strike up a conversation with a Disabled Person . Have your child say "Hello" to a Disabled Person . Look a Disabled Person in the eye and acknowledge them. ...

KINGSTON, Pa. (AP) -- The young woman probably thought the 71-year-old veteran, whose friend was in a wheelchair, would make an easy target. She was wrong. Harry Kopenis chased and tackled the 22-year-old woman he says robbed him at an ATM in northeastern Pennsylvania. Then, with help from his friend in a wheelchair, he held her until police arrived. "Maybe she thought I was easy prey. She didn't think I was going to get her. Well, senior citizens aren't easy prey," Kopenis said. Police charged Erin Vanmatre, of Kingston, with robbery, harassment and other offenses. Vanmatre, who was on probation for conspiracy to commit theft, was locked up on $10,000 bail. It wasn't clear if she had an attorney. Kopenis said he's not sure how he was able to catch Vanmatre, considering he suffered a stroke five years ago and is on various prescription medications. He pointed to the sky and said, "It was a source up there who gave me the energy." He had gone to an AT...

One Legged Inspirational Little Leaguer

www. flick r .com WillaWoman's Cruz photoset

In the '50s, disabled children often disappeared into state institutions. Now, one family seeks its lost son. PORTLAND, Ore. -- Tom and Betty West committed their mentally disabled son to a state institution. His name was Richard, and he was three years old. It was 1959. The massive complex was remote and family ties not encouraged. The state eventually moved Richard to a different facility without informing the Wests of the location. Four decades passed without a family member laying eyes on Richard. As they entered their 80s, the Wests thought increasingly about Richard, the fifth of their eight children. How was he? Where did he live? Mr. West wanted to make sure that, following his death, some of his pension flowed to Richard. State officials rejected Mr. West's request for information, calling Richard's whereabouts private. The Wests hired an attorney who ran into the same roadblocks. "At that point, I thought there is nothing more I could do," says Mr. West,...

PLOVER, Wis. (AP) -- Jason Dorshorst thought somebody ripped off his $4,000 wheelchair in broad daylight while he washed his pickup truck. It turns out that a good Samaritan took it to keep it from being stolen. Dorshorst, 26, of Plover, washed his vehicle Monday at Speedy Clean Car Wash. He left the custom-made wheelchair outside the business so it wouldn't get wet during the six-minute cleaning. It vanished in that short time. "My first thought was, 'Why would somebody ever do that?'" said Dorshorst, who was injured in a 2003 motorcycle accident and needs a wheelchair to complete day-to-day tasks. "I've never heard of anyone's wheelchair disappearing." He added, "It's pretty low for somebody to do that." But Plover Policeman Brent Thauer said Wednesday the chair wasn't stolen. A woman who arrived at the car wash while Dorshorst was inside saw the chair and assumed it was lost or abandoned, he said. Her father works with disabl...

www.christopherreeve.org

Ahh, found the link: www.giveanhour.org May 25, 1:39 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thousands of private counselors are offering free services to troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health problems, jumping in to help because the military is short on therapists. On this Memorial Day, America's armed forces and its veterans are coping with depression, suicide, family, marital and job problems on a scale not seen since Vietnam. The government has been in beg-borrow-and-steal mode, trying to hire psychiatrists and other professionals, recruit them with incentives or borrow them from other agencies. Among those volunteering an hour a week to help is Brenna Chirby, a psychologist with a private practice in McLean, Va. "It's only an hour of your time," said Chirby, who counsels a family member of a man deployed multiple times. "How can you not give that to these men and women that ... are going oversees and fighting for us?" There are only 1,431 ment...

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- After years of helping authorities look for murder victims and survivors of natural disasters, a search-and-rescue dog named Molly has been rescued herself. Surgeons at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine on Thursday installed a pacemaker in the 5-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever's heart. She needed the surgery after being diagnosed with a complete electrical heart blockage. Owners Allen and Alicia Brown of Saginaw were overwhelmed with offers to help pay the more than $2,500 in surgery, vet and travel costs after The Joplin Globe reported on Molly's need for the pacemaker. Medical technology company Medtronic Inc. donated the device, and a Kansas businessman offered to anonymously pay up to $2,000 of the cost. "It surprises me greatly," Allen Brown said. "There's just been such an outpouring of public support for her." Molly was scheduled to return home Friday and be confined to her crate for two weeks. S...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Google's online filing cabinet for medical records opened to the public Monday, giving users instant electronic access to their health histories while reigniting privacy concerns. Called Google Health, the service lets users link information from a handful of pharmacies and care providers, including Quest Diagnostics labs. Google plans to add more. Similar offerings include Microsoft Corp.'s HealthVault and Revolution Health, which is backed by AOL co-founder Steve Case. Google Health differentiates itself from the pack through its user interface and things like the public availability of its application program interface, or API, said Marissa Mayer, the Google executive overseeing the service. Mary Adams, 45, a Cleveland Clinic patient who participated in the Google Health pilot, said that she was initially concerned about the privacy of her medical information. Still, she felt safe enough to enroll and has been using the service for about six months, linking ...