A unique website, just launched, offers hope to people suffering with devastating problems due to a stroke. Research & Hope www.researchandhope.com presents survivors with 24 potential stroke treatments. The website highlights interventions which despite passing clinical trials are rarely offered by doctors in the aftermath of stroke.
The website was created by Dr Aviva Cohen, a researcher and lecturer, whose husband, Steve, suffered a serious stroke in 2006. Still nursing their second baby, Aviva watched as her 'bullet-proof' karate instructor dissolved into a paralysed, speechless stranger overnight.
Refusing to accept the prognosis that Steve would be severely disabled for life, Aviva searched the Internet and trawled through the millions of entries under ‘stroke’. When mainstream medicine had done all it could for Steve, she sent him for numerous therapies that had not been on offer in hospital. These included acupuncture, Fast ForWord and a range of experimental drugs.
Success rates have varied but overall, Steve has made significant progress. Since exploring unusual therapies, Aviva says, “the light has come back into Steve's eyes, the movement has come back into his paralysed arm, and hope has come back into our lives.”
Aviva created the Research & Hope website to make it easier for fellow stroke survivors and carers to find high quality, unbiased information on uncommon but clinically tested therapies.
Research & Hope is simple to navigate. It presents a clear overview of how each treatment works and provides a summary of arguments for and against using that particular treatment for stroke. It also describes what happens when the patient arrives at the clinic or hospital offering the therapy. If the reader decides to find out more, an online map displays the location of his or her nearest practitioner.
Use of the site is free. Research & Hope does not want to be just a website; they want to develop a gateway that empowers people to take action and to find hope.
