FRACTURES OF THE SPINE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 6 January 1931, Page 3

FRACTURES OF THE SPINE

advances of medical science

WELL-KNOWN JOCKEY CURED (By Telegraph —Special to “Tlio Mail ) CHRISTCHURCH, sth January. Wonderfully well considering what ho had been through, Ernest Shaw, a wellknown Christchurch jockey who had a had fall from Pangolin in the November carnival racing last year, was discharged from Lewisham Hospital this afternoon. Shaw can say that he lias had a broken neck and lived, for he was suffering from a fracture of the first vertebra, it 01tunalely for him there was no displacement of the bone and no pressure on the spinal cord, otherwise he would not have lived. The spill that Shaw had was his second serious one, for bet ore, in Auckland, he had a fall, also oddly enough from Pangolin. It is eonsideied that Shaw will not be able to ride again for a long time, if at all. Shaw’s case is somewhat similar to that of J. Turpin, a former well-known Linwood Rugby footballer, who was admitted to hospital about three years ago suffering from a dislocated neck. totiny Turpin is back at work, fit and well. Turpin’s case was more serious than Shaw’s, tor his was a dislocation and he had a long lime on his back with all the resources of medical skill used before he made a recovery. Medical science is making advances all the time and such cases as those mentioned are becoming more or less commonplace fo doctors, and cures arc becoming sure. There have been several cases of fractures of the spinal column in Christchurch in the last seven or eight months, and sufferers have been saved through medical skill.