Several months ago, I asked the chiropractic profession to help my 3-year-old nephew, Aiden, who was suffering from a rare life-threatening blood disorder called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). During the nine months it took doctors to diagnose Aiden, most children with the disease already would have died. The only chance Aiden had was to have a life-saving bone marrow transplantation.
At the time, there were no matches in an international database that included more than 5 million potential donors. However, the number of chiropractors from both the United States and around the world who came forward to be tested and make donations was simply overwhelming. In fact, the donor coordinator had to make a special folder specifically for the inquiries of chiropractors.
Due to the overwhelming response, a donor was found. Aiden had the transplantation. He was scheduled for 100 days of isolation to prevent infection, while all waited to see if a graft-vs.-host disease would develop. A few days after Aiden's 4th birthday and 50 days post-transplantation, testing demonstrated that 100 percent of his diseased marrow had been replaced by the donor's marrow. While Aiden is not completely out of the woods, a cure is in sight.
Aiden's doctors recently allowed him to go home early from his hospital isolation. "Mommy, can you hear the birds?" Aiden asked his mother on the way home. Upon getting out of the car, the grateful 4-year-old exclaimed how good the sun felt on his face, and then ran straight for the swing set.
Aiden's donor insisted on remaining anonymous. It doesn't matter if the donor was a chiropractor, because all those who were tested, donated, or offered their thoughts and prayers contributed to Aiden's recovery and should consider themselves heroes. The chiropractic profession has much to be proud of for their contribution to this miracle.
Because they have yet to pass national legislation protecting the chiropractic profession, Japanese DCs are in a similar situation that U.S. DCs faced. We were fortunate enough to be able to pass chiropractic licensure state by state. The DCs in Japan must accomplish this nationally, which has proved to be an extremely difficult task. And in spite of their efforts, Japanese DCs are currently faced with two chiropractic professions.
This article focuses on nine severe injuries that are generally not diagnosable until the third to fourth week following the date of injury, including how to diagnose these severe injuries. The discovery of any of these injuries early can make a significant difference in the case outcome.
Recently, I taught a 12-hour whiplash class to a group of chiropractors for continuing education. I taught that performing O’Donoghue’s maneuver enabled the providers to differentiate cervical strain from sprain. To my surprise, one of the attendees stated that it is not possible to diagnose a cervical strain and sprain with a whiplashed patient using O’Donoghue’s maneuver.
