Jessie Owen was left paralyzed nearly 12 years ago when a tree fell on a car in which she was a passenger. Via ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly 12 years ago, Jessie Owen’s life changed forever.
“My family was going over a mountain pass and a tree fell on our car. In that moment, my parents passed away, my siblings were severely injured, and I became quadriplegic,” Owen said. “I lost my independence. I lost my job. I lost my apartment. I lost my autonomy and the life that I dreamed for myself.”
Like Owen, more than 300,000 people live with spinal cord injuries in the United States, with an estimated 18,000 new cases each year, data shows.
Motor vehicle accidents account for the majority of spinal cord injuries and are closely followed by falls, acts of violence and sports activities, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center.
For years, options for recovery have been limited, but a newly FDA-cleared external spinal stimulator, ARC-EX Therapy, which received clearance on Dec. 19, may offer hope for people like Owen.
“ARC-EX is simply electrodes attached to skin on the back of the neck,” explained Chet Moritz, M.D., a professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Washington. “It allows us to pass current through the skin to activate the sensory nerves as they enter the spinal cord. Now, those sensory nerves make direct connections to the motor nerves which help people to move.”
Owen, who participated in the Up-LIFT study, a clinical trial focusing on the health benefits of ARC-EX Therapy, saw a life-changing impact.
“I was wildly surprised and pleased to see that it was making meaningful change in my life. I can now paint with my hands. I can open a jar of peanut butter. I can tie my shoes. It [used to] take me 30 minutes to get dressed. Now it takes 12. [I used to require] 20 caregiving hours a week and I was able to move down to about eight.”
The Up-LIFT study produced promising results.
Of the 60 patients with cervical spinal cord injuries studied, 72% saw improvements in hand strength and function. Participants also reported fewer muscle spasms, better sleep, less pain, and improved independence during daily activities.
“The success of [this] study of people with spinal cord injuries is phenomenal,” noted Moritz. “There are essentially no current therapies for chronic spinal cord injury, and so having the majority of patients respond in both strength and function measures [is] just an outstanding result.”
With FDA approval, ARC-EX Therapy is expected to become more accessible.
“Patients can work with their local rehabilitation clinics to see a therapist and work with them in the clinic at first to tune the device,” Moritz said. Results may appear quickly — some participants noticed changes within just a few sessions, he added.
While the device is currently cleared for improving hand strength, function and sensation, Moritz noted other benefits: “Some people will have modest improvements in their bladder function, heart rate, or blood pressure control.”
Leah Croll, M.D., vascular neurologist at Maimonides Health and assistant professor of neurology at SUNY Downstate, shared the excitement over the device.
“The idea that ARC-EX Therapy may accelerate or augment neurologic recovery is really exciting. Any improvement in neurologic function is meaningful and has far-reaching impact in the daily lives of these patients and their families,” she said.
The road to recovery after a spinal cord injury is grueling, Croll said.
“After emergency and ICU care is completed, the mainstay of treatment is working closely with physical therapists, occupational therapists and other rehabilitation professionals to support neurologic recovery,” said Croll. “Patients may also need medications and certain procedures, depending on their unique symptoms.”
For Owen and others, ARC-EX Therapy represents a renewed sense of hope and an exciting change in the way these patients can be treated.
“[With ARC-EX Therapy], I continued to gain function back, and I found I was able to pour more into other people,” Owen said. “The first indicator of success that I noticed was my own happiness. It works, and it gives us hope and passion.”
Natalie S. Rosen, M.D., is a physician in the Hematology & Oncology Department at New York-Presbyterian Columbia and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
Hello there, You. Season 5 of the series starring Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg will arrive on Netflix in 2025, the streamer confirmed on Thursday. It was renewed for its fifth and final season back in March 2023. Along with Badgley, season 5 will star Charlotte Ritchie, Madeline Brewer, Anna Camp and Griffin Matthews, with Baby Reindeer breakout star Nava Mau guesting as Detective Marquez …
It seems there are even more lies to tell. The Hulu series Tell Me Lies has been renewed for a third season. The renewal of the popular show, which stars Grace Van Patten and Jackson White, comes a little over two months after the season 2 finale was released. Much like the first season, the sophomore one ended on a cliff-hanger twist. The show’s creator, Meaghan Oppenheimer, has also just signed an overall deal with 20th Television, which is part of Disney Television Studios …
There’s even more Sonic headed our way. Paramount is going forward with a fourth Sonic the Hedgehog movie, Variety reports. The news comes just as Sonic the Hedgehog 3 goes into previews at movie theaters, ahead of its weekend release. Jeff Fowler has directed all three Sonic live-action films, with Ben Schwartz lending his voice to the titular hedgehog and Jim Carrey starring as the evil Dr. Robotnik …
(NEW YORK) — As the Teamsters’ cross-country Christmastime strike against Amazon entered its second day on Friday, the union said that “momentum continues to mount” as workers seek “fair treatment” from the online retailer.
“The Amazon Teamsters movement grows bigger and stronger every day and will not be stopped,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in a statement posted on social media late Thursday.
Workers affiliated with the Teamsters began striking at Amazon facilities across the country early Thursday. The union said thousands of workers were walking off their jobs at facilities in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, but did not provide specific numbers.
Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien is expected to join a picket line in California’s City of Industry on Friday, the union said.
Amazon said the strike was not expected to impact operations and claimed the strikes were being attended by outside organizers. Kelly Nantel, director of Global Corporate Issues and Media Relations at Amazon, said the company had not seen an impact on deliveries.
“Thankfully, the vast majority of our employees and the drivers who deliver on our behalf came to work today to do what they do every day,” Nantel said on Thursday. “They’re doing a great job of working for their customers and their communities and as a result of their hard work.”
The strike, which the Teamsters referred to as the largest strike in history, arrived during the busiest shopping season of the year, less than a week before Christmas.
In addition, the Teamsters said local unions were also picketing “hundreds” of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.
Overall, nearly 9,000 Amazon workers, across 20 bargaining units, have affiliated with the powerful Teamsters union, according to the union. The striking workers represent less than 1% of the company’s 1.5 million employees worldwide, including 800,000 in the United States.
The National Labor Relations Board officially certified the union representing workers, but Amazon has appealed that ruling. The union said Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline for contract negotiations to begin.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” O’Brien said in a statement Thursday announcing the strike. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
In a statement to ABC News, an Amazon spokesperson said the Teamsters illegally coerced workers to join the union. The company in a statement described the people walking the picket lines as “almost entirely outsiders—not Amazon employees or partners.”
“The truth is that [the Teamsters] were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to come and harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous,” Amazon said. “We appreciate all our team’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and are continuing to focus on getting customers their holiday orders.”
Amazon’s market cap is $2.35 trillion. Shares of the retailer ticked up $2.77 on Thursday, climbing about 1.26%. The stock was down about 2 in premarket trading on Friday.
ABC News’ Taylor Dunn and Soo Youn contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — A Russian missile strike killed one person and wounded nine others early on Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said, an attack that U.S. Ambassador Bridget A. Brink described as “brutal.”
“Early this morning Russia launched a ballistic missile attack against the capital, killing a civilian and resulting in debris and fires around the city,” Brink said in a statement on social media.
Brink added that the United States and its partners were “surging security assistance and energy support” to the country “in response to these brutal attacks.”
First responders were battling fires in the streets, and several high-rise buildings were damaged. Debris had fallen in at least four districts in the city, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.
More than 600 buildings, including more than a dozen medical sites, were without heat after the strike damaged a heating main in the city’s southwestern Holosiivskyi District, he said. Seventeen schools and 13 kindergartens also were without heat early Friday.
Russia last month launched several aerial assaults that targeted energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine.
“Ukraine needs more air defense systems,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Friday. “Russian terror must be stopped.”
Nine people were injured, including four who were hospitalized, in the strike on Kyiv, the mayor said, revising the number of injured from the previous seven.
ABC News’ Helena Skinner contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s administration will announce on Friday another $4.28 billion dollars in student loan relief for nearly 55,000 public service workers.
The announcement will bring the total loan forgiveness by the Biden administration to “approximately $180 billion for nearly 5 million Americans,” according to a fact sheet from the Department of Education.
The forgiveness will be delivered to individuals enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF), which allows for debt forgiveness for people in jobs like firefighting, nursing and teaching after 10 years of continuous payment.
The Biden administration has made fixes to this program that had failed to deliver student loan relief to many due to poor implementations and errors in the program, officials said.
“The public servants approved for debt cancellation today include teachers, nurses, service members, law enforcement officials, and other public service workers who have dedicated their lives to giving back to their communities and who are finally earning the relief they are entitled to under the law,” Biden said in a statement.
Of the nearly 5 million borrowers who have had more than $180 billion in debt relieved by the administration, more than 1 million were through the PSLF. The relief for those PSLF borrowers totals about $78 billion, the administration said.
“From Day One of my Administration, I promised to make sure that higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” Biden said in the statement.
He added, “Because of our actions, millions of people across the country now have the breathing room to start businesses, save for retirement, and pursue life plans they had to put on hold because of the burden of student loan debt.”
(LOS ANGELES) — The workers union representing Starbucks baristas across the country announced members in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle will go on strike in the days leading up to Christmas.
Workers United, which has unionized more than 525 U.S. Starbucks locations, said in a press release Thursday that unfair labor practices and stalled negotiations with the company are the catalyst behind the holiday season strike.
The union says five days of escalating strikes will begin Friday and continue until Dec. 24 in “three of the company’s priority markets” during what it called the company’s busiest days of the year.
During the strike period, the walkouts “are expected to spread each day and ultimately reach hundreds of stores from coast to coast by Christmas Eve” unless the company honors a February commitment made with the union.
In February 2024, Workers United and Starbucks announced they would work on a “foundational framework” to reach a collective bargaining agreement for stores, something the union says has not come to fruition.
In a statement on Thursday following the strike announcement Starbucks said Workers United delegates “prematurely ended” its bargaining session with the coffee giant this week.
Starbucks added that the company is “focused on enhancing” employee experiences by offering an average wage of $18 per hour and benefits including health care, free college tuition, paid family leave and company stock grants.
“We are ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements,” Starbucks said, adding, “We need the union to return to the table.”
Workers United, however, said despite “repeatedly pledging publicly” that it intends to reach contracts by the end of the year, Starbucks has not yet presented workers with a “serious economic proposal.”
“Nobody wants to strike. It’s a last resort, but Starbucks has broken its promise to thousands of baristas and left us with no choice,” Fatemeh Alhadjaboodi, a five-year Starbucks barista and bargaining delegate, said in the release.
“In a year when Starbucks invested so many millions in top executive talent, it has failed to present the baristas who make its company run with a viable economic proposal. This is just the beginning. We will do whatever it takes to get the company to honor the commitment it made to us in February,” Alhadjaboodi added.
“The holiday season should be magical at Starbucks, but for too many of us, there’s a darker side to the peppermint mochas and gingerbread lattes,” Arloa Fluhr, a bargaining delegate who has worked off and on at Starbucks for 18 years said in the release.
“I’m a mom of three, including my daughter who is diabetic. I know what it’s like to panic because my hours were slashed and I won’t be able to pay my bills and could lose access to healthcare, including my daughter’s insulin. That’s why we’re steadfast in our demands for Starbucks to invest in baristas like me,” Fluhr added.
ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson, whose “shaken baby syndrome” murder conviction in the death of his 2-year-old daughter has come under scrutiny, has been ordered to appear before the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on Friday over the state’s so-called “junk science” law.
The legislation, passed in 2013, creates a pathway for people to challenge their convictions if new scientific evidence or developments would have impacted the outcome of their case. However, some legislators say they are concerned that the state law may not adequately address these issues and it is now being investigated by the House committee.
“Robert is eager to testify and grateful for the chance to be heard,” said Gretchen Sween, Roberson’s attorney. “We will do all we can to cooperate, and I profoundly hope that his ability to appear is not obstructed by those who, for whatever reason, do not want the lawmakers and the public to hear from him directly about his experience trying to communicate his innocence.”
Roberson was set to become the first person in the U.S. executed for a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis murder conviction on Oct. 17 before the court intervened and a state House committee issued a subpoena for Roberson to testify on the law on Oct. 21, halting the execution. However, Roberson did not testify that day.
A new execution date has not yet been scheduled, according to Roberson’s legal representatives. In November, the Supreme Court of Texas noted that a subpoena could not block a scheduled execution.
Roberson was found guilty of the 2002 murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, in part based on the testimony of a pediatrician who described swelling and hemorrhages in her brain to support a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis. He was tried and convicted of capital murder in 2003 and sentenced to death.
Roberson’s legal team argued that evidence not presented at the trial found that Nikki had pneumonia and had been prescribed respiratory-suppressing drugs by doctors in the days leading up to her death, leading to a case of severe viral and bacterial pneumonia that progressed to sepsis and then septic shock.
Additionally, Roberson’s team says his autism affects how he expresses emotion; investigators noted Roberson’s lack of emotion during his arrest.
Roberson’s fight for clemency has been backed by a bipartisan group of more than 80 state lawmakers, as well as medical, scientific and criminal justice advocates who have questioned the legitimacy of the use of the shaken baby syndrome diagnosis in his case based on newer scientific evidence. The lead detective on Roberson’s case at the time, Brian Wharton, also now argues that missing evidence hindered the case.
However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other state officials have argued that “Roberson was lawfully sentenced to death” and that he has “exhausted every legally available appellate avenue” — noting that the case was heard once more by a trial court in 2021 in a dayslong evidentiary hearing after his execution was first halted, and earlier this year, Roberson’s team requested that a district court reopen his case.
Paxton also argued that the jury did not convict Roberson solely based on the controversial shaken baby syndrome diagnosis, though Roberson’s attorneys said that “shaken baby” was referred to by prosecutors and witnesses throughout the jury trial.
