A spinal cord injury can be life-altering – and the potential for infertility is often a devastating blow as well.

Among men who experience spinal cord injuries (SCIs) in the U.S., nearly eight in 10 have fertility and reproduction issues due to erectile dysfunction or poor sperm quality.

But one clinic in Miami, Florida, is on a mission to help men with SCIs start a family.

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The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has aided in the birth of 200 babies since the 1990s.

Fox News Digital spoke with Dr. Emad Ibrahim, director of the Male Fertility Research Program, about how “amazing” this achievement has been.

The doctor said “nothing beats the feeling” of finding out one of his patients is expecting a child.

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“Every time we get an email with an ultrasound picture that shows the baby … it’s a mission accomplished,” he said. “It’s the most gratifying sensation you’ll ever have.”

Ibrahim, an associate professor of urology and neurological surgery at UMiami, said the clinical research program is “very unique” in its quest to help men father their own children through techniques rarely found elsewhere.

New dads Eric Rosemary, left, and Darris Straughter, right, both underwent procedures with the Miami Project under the direction of Dr. Ibrahim, center. (Eric Rosemary; The University of Miami)

While men with erectile dysfunction can be given medication to address this issue, men with ejaculatory dysfunction face a bigger challenge that the Miami clinic addresses through two unique procedures.

The two techniques include penile vibratory stimulation and electroejaculation, both FDA-approved and selected based on the nature of the spinal cord injury.

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The electroejaculation machine activates and contracts the glands responsible for producing sperm. (The machine is also available in Sweden, its only other location besides Miami.)

This method is guaranteed to be successful “almost 100% of the time,” according to Ibrahim.

‘Amazing’ fatherhood

Men from all over the U.S., and even outside the country, have come to seek this treatment — including Darris Straughter, 44, a Miami native.

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Straughter was a victim of gun violence in 2018, he told Fox News Digital in an interview.

While sitting at a traffic light, he was shot eight times. The injuries left him paralyzed from the chest down.

Darris Straughter plays with his daughter, who will turn 2 on Aug. 5, 2024. Straughter was paralyzed by gunfire in 2018. (The University of Miami)

“I don’t feel anything,” he said. “It’s a crazy situation. You just have to roll with the punches and keep moving and try to stay positive.”

Despite the incident, Straughter — who already had one child of his own — was determined to provide children for his wife.

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“I kept saying, ‘She deserves a kid,’” he said. “She was by my side the whole time. So, I was like, ‘I’m going to try any way possible to make it happen.’”

Straughter received treatment from Ibrahim, which ultimately led to his wife’s successful pregnancy. His daughter is now almost 2 years old and is “healthy and strong,” he said.

“[Fatherhood] is amazing. It’s so joyful,” he said. “I just love everything about it.”

“I pray God continues to guide us on a great path,” Straughter, pictured with his wife and daughter, told Fox News Digital. (The University of Miami)

Fellow Florida resident Eric Rosemary, 46, also found success at the Miami facility after a Memorial Day accident 15 years ago left him paralyzed.

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“I was on a boat … in West Palm Beach, and I fell off the boat and shattered my C4, C5, C6 vertebrae and became a quadriplegic,” he said. 

Rosemary, who has been married for eight years, told Fox News Digital that he turned to the Miami Project when the timing was right to have kids.

Eric Rosemary of Florida, pictured with his family, said the Miami Project is “leading the way” in helping people with spinal cord injuries adapt. (Eric Rosemary)

Rosemary was previously involved in clinical trials with the project.

He and his wife have since had two sons, born in 2020 and 2023, after three attempts at the first pregnancy and two attempts with the second.

“When you first get injured, there are so many other things you have to worry about,” Rosemary said.

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“In my 30s, I was able to cope with having a spinal cord injury, rebuilding my business, re-building my life, then getting married and having my boys,” he continued. “I was fortunate enough that I had the time to do that.” 

As patients who have suffered from an SCI mainly focus on mobility and medical care at first, sexual function is usually “brushed off,” Ibrahim noted.

Darris Straughter, pictured in the background with his daughter, is now a stay-at-home dad. His wife is shown in the foreground.  (The University of Miami)

“They rarely talk about fertility,” he said. “And unfortunately, we still have some rehab centers in remote areas in the country that will tell these patients, ‘Forget it. You’re not going to have any children.’”

He added, “If [providers] knew that our program exists, and they could actually refer the patients to us, that would be of great help.”

Ongoing research

As the Miami Project’s procedures have shown excellent results, more research on a potential fertility treatment is underway, Ibrahim revealed.

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The program was awarded a $3.24 million, 40-year grant in July 2023 from the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct a clinical trial to study a drug called Probenecid, which was previously used to treat gout.

Dr. Ibrahim specializes in reproductive and sexual dysfunction in men with spinal cord injuries. He said “nothing beats the feeling” of finding out one of his patients is expecting a child. (The University of Miami)

Through years of research, Ibrahim and his team found that this drug targets the internal issues that some SCI patients experience, he said.

In the pilot study, which included 18 patients with spinal cord injuries, Ibrahim reported that all participants saw improved sperm quality.

“The medication is safe, and we have the publication to support that it works,” he said.

The larger clinical trial is currently ongoing as the Miami Project is in search of new volunteers.

• Type 2 diabetes patients on GLP-1 treatments, such as Ozempic, have a lower risk of 10 obesity-related cancers compared to those on insulin and other drugs, according to a new study.
• GLP-1 treatments for type 2 diabetes have been on the market for nearly 20 years, improving blood sugar control and inducing weight loss.
• Ozempic, approved in 2017, was one of the first in its class.

Patients with type 2 diabetes taking GLP-1 treatments, which include Ozempic, have a lower chance of developing 10 types of obesity-related cancers than those taking insulin and other diabetes drugs, according to a study published on Friday.

GLP-1 treatments for type 2 diabetes have been on the market for nearly 20 years. The newer generation – such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro – are far more effective at controlling blood sugar levels and inducing weight loss. Ozempic was the first of the newer generation in the class to be approved, in 2017.

In the study published on Friday in medical journal JAMA Network Open, researchers examined the medical records of 1.6 million patients with type 2 diabetes who had no prior history of 13 types of obesity-related cancers including gallbladder cancer and kidney cancer.

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The study did not specify which GLP-1 medicines the patients took, but the records were for patients on these medicines or insulin or the diabetes drug metformin between March 2005 and November 2018. Ozempic was only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2017.

The study found that the patients treated with a GLP-1 therapy instead of insulin “had a significant risk reduction” in 10 of those cancers.

The findings are “preliminary evidence of the potential benefit” of GLP-1 drugs for cancer prevention in high-risk population, the researchers concluded. They also said that studies of the newer generation of these medicines for their cancer preventative effects are warranted.

The authors of the study did not report having received funds from drugmakers who market these medicines.

The versions of these medicines that are approved to treat obesity, and have been shown to help patients lose as much as 20% of their weight on average, have exploded in popularity, leading to record profits for Novo and Lilly.

Lilly’s Mounjaro and weight-loss therapy Zepbound, as well as Novo’s rival medicines Ozempic and Wegovy are already being studied to see whether they can improve health in many other ways, ranging from alcohol addiction to sleep apnea.

In March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Wegovy for lowering the risk of stroke and heart attack in overweight or obese adults who do not have diabetes.

A human case of the plague has been confirmed in Pueblo County, Colorado, according to health officials.

The Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment (PDPHE) is working with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to investigate, according to a press release.

No specific information was provided about the person who contracted the plague.

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“We advise all individuals to protect themselves and their pets from plague,” Alicia Solis, program manager of the Office of Communicable Disease and Emergency Preparedness at PDPHE, stated in the release.

What is the plague?

The bubonic plague is caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacterium that was likely first introduced in North America around 1900 from rats on ships coming from South Asia, according to Timothy Brewer, M.D., professor of medicine and epidemiology at UCLA.

“Since its introduction 120 years ago, it has become endemic in ground squirrels and rodents in the rural Southwestern U.S.,” he told Fox News Digital.

Although the disease can affect people of all ages, half the cases involve patients between the ages of 12 and 45, as stated on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.

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Globally, between 1,000 and 2,000 cases of plague are reported to the World Health Organization each year — although only an average of seven annual cases are in the U.S.

If left untreated, the plague has a fatality rate of 30% to 60%. 

With antibiotics, that drops to below 5%.

“Since its introduction 120 years ago, [bubonic plague] has become endemic in ground squirrels and rodents in the rural Southwestern U.S.,” an expert told Fox News Digital. (iStock)

Symptoms and spread

Symptoms of the plague typically include severe headache, fever and chills, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting and swollen lymph nodes, the health department listed.

The plague can spread by droplets from one person infected with Y. pestis to another, according to Erica Susky, a certified infection control practitioner based in Canada. 

“The more common risk of exposure in the U.S. is from pets, rodents and fleas,” she told Fox News Digital. 

Symptoms of the plague typically include severe headache, fever and chills, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting and swollen lymph nodes. (iStock)

“Pets can sometimes be infected when encountering an infected flea or rodent and may pass it along to their pet owners from a bite or if the pet is ill.”

Another possible source is from hunting, she said — “skinning animals is also a risk, as the bacterium can spread via infected body fluids.”

“Treat pets promptly if they have a flea infestation and seek veterinary treatment if a pet becomes ill.”

Breathing in dust contaminated by dried rodent urine or feces with the bacteria can also spread the infection, according to Brewer.

Preventing the plague

The best means of prevention is to avoid rodents and fleas whenever possible, including dead rodents, Susky said.

“One way to do this is to ensure the home is rodent-proof by eliminating places where rodents may enter and hide,” she told Fox News Digital. 

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Whenever possible, pets should be kept indoors, Susky recommended. 

If pets are outdoors, they should be leashed. 

“Treat pets promptly if they have a flea infestation and seek veterinary treatment if a pet becomes ill,” Susky advised.

“If spending time outdoors where one may be bitten by fleas and other insects, repellent should be applied to minimize potential bites, which are a portal of entry for the bacterium if one is bitten by an infected flea,” an infectious diseases expert advised. (iStock)

Hunters should wear gloves and wash their hands after skinning animals, and should change and wash their clothes afterward, she added.

The PDPHE also recommends keeping pet food in rodent-proof containers and not allowing pets to sleep in bed.

“If spending time outdoors where one may be bitten by fleas and other insects, repellent should be applied to minimize potential bites, which are a portal of entry for the bacterium if one is bitten by an infected flea,” Susky said.

Anyone who develops symptoms of plague should see a health care provider immediately, officials advised. (iStock)

Anyone who develops symptoms of plague should see a health care provider immediately, Solis advised in the PDPHE alert.

“Plague can be treated successfully with antibiotics, but an infected person must be treated promptly to avoid serious complications or death.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for comment.