"With population growth and improvements in medicine, the number of people diagnosed with spinal cord injury is increasing and the average age at the time of injury is rising," said study author Chiara Pavese, MD, PhD, of the University of Pavia in Pavia, Italy.

In her house in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Barbara Meade said, "there are walkers and wheelchairs and oxygen and cannulas all over the place.