Meridian Health

Aran Harper needed a miracle worker. Shot at close range in the right arm with a 12-gauge shotgun in Myrtle Beach, SouthCarolina, the 20-year-old from Toms River essentially had a dead limb. His humerus, the long bone that extends from shoulder to elbow, was shattered, and the nerves were badly damaged.

At the time of the incident in spring 2008, he was taken to a nearby hospital. Those doctors saved his arm, but it was Andrew Elkwood, M.D., medical director of the new Center for Treatment of Paralysis and Reconstructive Nerve Surgery at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and part of Meridian Neuroscience, who gave the arm function again.

Aran had received treatment from Jersey Shore neurologist Alan Colicchio, M.D., who referred him to Dr. Elkwood. "His arm was paralyzed when he came to me," explains Dr.Elkwood. "He had no use of it."

Aran, now 24, recalls what Dr. Elkwood said to him, "'We will try to do everything we can until there is nothing else we can do.'"

And he meant it. The Center is unique in what it does: providing some of the most advanced surgical treatment for paralysis and nerve reconstruction available today. It's one of the few places in the country that offers this kind of treatment.

The impetus for the Center, Dr. Elkwood says, was to perform surgery on paralyzed people worldwide. Dr. Elkwood's team also provides information to patients on the Center's Web site. "We can discuss patients with local practitioners. We can't treat over the Web, but we can instruct other practitioners and expedite surgery."

The Center's approach is unique."We like to present a patient a plan from top to bottom," says Dr. Elkwood. "It's effective when you have one team planning it all out."

In total, Aran has had more than seven surgeries, many of them under the skilled hands of Dr. Elkwood. "I tell the patient it is a process, not an event. Like a chess player, you need to think several plays ahead. What we usually do is fix the patient the best way we can initially, then reassess — what has gotten better, then what hasn't. And then we figure out how to fix it."

Today, Aran has graduated from college and is pursuing a job in law enforcement. He still has trouble reaching and grabbing with his fingers, but he can bench-press 225 pounds.

"It's not a complete recovery, but it's 1,000 times better than after the accident," Aran says. "Dr. Elkwood changed my life forever."

Meet the Doctor

Andrew I. Elkwood, M.D.
Board certified in Plastic Surgery
Shrewsbury | 732-741-0970