ALS or spinal cord damage??

My brother began having loss of use and weakness in his right hand 6 months after a small traffic accident.The accident was nothing more than a fender-bender and did not hurt anyone.When he began having these symptoms,the doctor found that 2 disc in his spine were crushed.He had surgery on c-5 and c-6 and this was suppose to help him not lose use of any other muscles.However,4 months ago,he began having breathing problems and had vocal cord paralysis.He had a trach put in to help.The doctor's told us that all of this had to do with spinal cord damage and that it wasn't ALS.He then went to Mercer University and the doctor did one small test,looked at his hospital charts and said that he did have ALS.So now we have had one tell us it is and one tell us it isn't.Is it possible for him to have this much spinal cord damage and ALS or could he have been misdiagnosed?Sorry this is so long,but we are at a loss.Any information??Please write!!

Kristi

• Re: ALS or spinal cord damage?? Nita 00:14:10 12/09/00 (0)