documentary synopsis.

A SPARK OF NERVE is a story of personal triumph and medical innovation. Loren was fifteen when a prisoner mistakenly released from San Quentin followed her into a San Francisco bakery and brutally stabbed her five times, severing the nerves in her neck. Neurosurgeons said her arm would never move again. Michael, an Illinois attorney, was facing a similar, dead-end diagnosis after a freak chain saw accident paralyzed his arm. Eighteen-year-old Chelsey survived a horrific late night car accident in St. Louis, which left her arm useless as well. None of these patients were willing to accept paralysis or worse, possible amputation. Unfortunately they also didn’t know they were in a race against time or the paralysis would be permanent. Each desperately went searching for a cure and found hope with Dr. Susan Mackinnon and her pioneering work in nerve transfer surgery, which is restoring movement to limbs that many doctors believe to be permanently paralyzed. The film follows the charismatic Mackinnon and several of her patients for three years as their emotional stories unfold - from trauma and disappointment to hope and finally joy as the freedom of movement is slowly regained. Mackinnon is committed to sharing her groundbreaking surgical “recipes” and is creating a military funded teaching website for all surgeons anywhere in the world. With rare access, we visit the Walter Reed Peripheral Nerve Clinic in Maryland to see how nerve transfers are being used to help wounded soldiers returning from the Middle East conflicts.

A SPARK OF NERVE will inspire the millions with nerve injuries to not lose hope and to seek out these little known but life-changing surgeries.

characters.

filmmakers statement.

We vividly remember the moment our phone rang and we got the chilling and incomprehensible news: our 15-year-old daughter, Loren, had been brutally stabbed in a neighborhood bakery. As parents of a girl who suddenly had a paralyzed arm as a result of a traumatic injury, we found ourselves at a medical dead end. After many failed attempts to find a cure, it was only by coincidence that we found help to save our daughter’s arm with Dr. Susan Mackinnon. We were lucky. What if we hadn’t stumbled upon that solution or found it in time? We began asking ourselves, “How many other people with these same injuries don’t know where to look for treatment or that they need it quickly? Why is it so hard to find this information?” That’s when we decided to help get the word out about these little known, but life-changing nerve transfer surgeries. Even if this information saves only one arm or leg, it will be worth it!