Paralyzed teenager undergoes intensive treatment
(CNS) Family and friends of 14-year-old Adryan Powell, who was critically injured when two masked gunmen opened fire on him in a shooting incident in West Bay, are holding a fundraiser on 9 November for special equipment Adryan will need of when he returns home. Currently undergoing treatment in Florida, the teenager is also attending school there, News 27 has reported. Adryan was shot seven times during the incident in July in which 20-year-old Marcus Ebanks was murdered and Ebanks’ younger brother Rod was also injured. Doctors have told Adryan’s family he has complete paralysis from the waist down and doctors are not able to do an MRI because of bullet fragments in his body, which cannot be removed.
According to the television news station, the family is now waiting on doctors to tell them when they will be able to bring Adryan home.
Local dishes will be sold at a fundraiser on Monday, 9 November, starting at 11am Remembrance Day Public Holiday at Garvin Park, Morgan’s Harbour (next to Dolphin Cove). Anyone who would like to make a donation can do so at First Caribbean Bank to the Account # 10167783.
Meanwhile, police have not arrested any suspects in connection with the Bonaventure Road shooting, which police Commissioner David Baines said was linked to several other shootings which started with the killing of Omar Samuels in McField Lane, George Town on 5 July. Baines said last week that Adryan was a perfectly innocent bystander and he was not involved in any gang activity but was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Category: Local News
Bullets are made of a variety of materials. Lead or a lead alloy (typically containing antimony) is the traditional bullet core material. Traditional bullet jackets are made of copper or gilding metal, an alloy of copper and zincC=
I don’t quite understand…
MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging…
Lead isn’t magnetic…
Why can’t they do an MRI if there are bullet fragments in his body? I’m sure I’m missing something here…
The majority of bullets tested for MRI safety are composed of nonferromagnetic material. Patients with retained bullets and shotgun pellets have been imaged safely with MR. However, caution should be exercised with MR imaging in the presence of metallic foreign bodies, particularly if they are located near vital neural, vascular, or soft-tissue structures. Although a majority of ammunition has proved to be made of nonferrous materials, ammunition made in foreign countries or produced by the military has shown traces of ferromagnetic alloys. Bullets that contain steel or ferromagnetic contaminates such as nickel can be rotated within the MR unit. Also, in an effort to reduce lead poisoning in ducks, the US government has required the use of steel shot instead of lead, which could produce a potential MRI hazard in patients. Therefore, it is advised to take extreme caution in imaging patients with bullets or shrapnel and to be aware of the location of such metal within the body. In a specific case it comes down to a judgment between the relative risks and benefits of the MRI exam.
Clearly there is a RISK of doing damage to the young man. A RISK that the doctors in Florida ( who probably see this sort of thing every day) are not willing to take because the RISK outweighs any benefit. The RISK they are not willing take could or would end up killing him or injuring him more so than has already happened. If doctors, who go to University for 7+ years before becoming qualified are not willing to perform the procedure because the RISK is too great of doing more harm when balanced with the benefits of an MRI, maybe people (like the amateurs on this page who are arguing that MRI’s can be done and why hasn’t one been done) should heed the DOCTORS OPINION. Usually a Doctor knows what they are talking about unlike the self proclaimed physicists that leave UNQUALIFIED OPINIONS here.
Whoa cowboy! I owned up to my unqualified opinion to start with by writing "I’m sure I’m missing something here." I simply held some misconceptions regarding a medical procedure and used the forums on this website to educate myself. I certainly never suggested the young gentleman in question be placed at greater risk by submitting to an unsafe procedure. I at no time suggested that I knew better than his physicians. And at no time did I argue that the MRI be done.
I asked a question about something I didn’t comprehend in order to come to a better understanding. I would like to thank the kind and knowledgable folks that contributed to answering my question (in a polite fashion to boot!).
Actually I argued against doing an MRI, did you actually bother to read the post you replied to?
Maybe we are, maybe they are copper bullets?
Not necessarily lead.
I have no expertise in the field, but having studied Physics at John Gray High School I can hazard a guess. The MRI creates a (powerful?) magnetic field, and any time a magnetic field passes through a metallic substance (in this case lead) it cause a current to flow in the metallic substance. A simple example of this is how transformers use a magnetic field to step up or step down a voltage with no physical connection between the input and output.
My guess is that the MRI would cause the lead in his body to heat up (from the current flow) and melt the tissue around the lead causing him severe discomfort if not severe damage to whatever the lead is resting in or against.
I’m not an expert but maybe anything metallic would heat up dangerously in the body when the MRI is in use.
Traditionally bullets were pure lead, but many modern ones are an alloy of lead and tin because modern guns fire at faster velocities. Also, you are correct that lead is not ferromagnetic, but I believe it is also possible for bullet fragments to heat up in an MRI machine due to radiofrequency waves.
Essentially, if the bullet fragments are in/around the spinal column (likely, considering the paralysis) the doctor will not want to risk moving them orheating them, even just a little bit. They have to be exceedingly cautious in situations like this, and would probably rely on a CT scan alone, at least for now.
You are right lead isn’t magnetic but most bullets today aren’t made of pure lead but rather an alloy of lead and some other metal which can be magnetic. Any bullet fragments in the body have the potential to move during an MRI and hence casue damage and/or internal bleeding.
One can still do a MRI with bullet fragments but at greater risk to the patient. In these cases doctor and patient together decide if the benefit out weigh the risk of a MRI.
Bullets are made of a variety of materials. Lead or a lead alloy (typically containing antimony) is the traditional bullet core material. Traditional bullet jackets are made of copper or gilding metal, an alloy of copper and zinc.
Yeah, think there is a little urban legend/hollywood going on here…most bullets are lead core with a copper jacket..neither of which are ferrous metals and hence magnetic…usually the only bullets which could possibly be magnetic are steel cored armor piercing rounds usually limited to military use…and when those are used against soft (human) targets tend to go cleanly through and not stay inside the body. A specialist in MRI techonology might be able to clear this up…
This is truly tragedy, imagine a perfect you man full of dreams and hope is condemned to spend his life in a wheel chair.
I hope the monsters that did this to him are really proud of their selves. I know that Cayman is good at donations and to support good cause, so his parent will with the help of the Lord get the money they need.
I hope this is a lesson to many of the young generation, how quick life can change.
Is there some way those of us outside CI can make a donation?
Just mail it to the Bank with the account number in the reference, the one that they have listed.
Society always comes down to Heroes and cowards. Be strong Adryan. Your community loves you we are blessed with a Hero.
And the cowards know who they are. Burn in hell.