Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2021 21:12:32 GMT -5
Was he supposed to be crippled for life or was only temporary?
I watched the intro to that episode and ME is telling him that he doesn't have to spend the rest of his life like that. I don't think I have ever seen the intro before so I was under the impression that Mike was going to be disabled for life.
|
|
|
Post by Easton on Sept 12, 2021 18:06:18 GMT -5
Mike's paralysis was, as far as I know, permanent. Mary Ellen learns that Mike was physically ready to go home but he wasn't ready mentally. He felt that people would be staring at him, that he would always be treated as a dependent invalid. That was what Mary Ellen was talking about when she said he didn't have to live like that.
|
|
|
Post by pinkbaker07 on Oct 4, 2021 20:56:30 GMT -5
He wasn't the same guy who took Mary Ellen to the dance where she lost the ring, was he?
|
|
|
Post by Easton on Oct 4, 2021 21:30:00 GMT -5
He wasn't the same guy who took Mary Ellen to the dance where she lost the ring, was he? That was Ted Eccles who played Michael West. The guy in the wheelchair appeared in a few episodes as the same character, Mike Paxton played by Dennis Redfield. (He was the main 'bully' in The First Day and they guy in the hearing where John-Boy defended the 'cheater'. He and John-Boy eventually became good friends.)
Oh, yeah. Ted Eccles, also as Michael West, was also in The FIrst Day. He and John-Boy, plus the girl (Polly?) became friends and companions.
|
|
|
Post by pinkbaker07 on Oct 4, 2021 21:44:01 GMT -5
He wasn't the same guy who took Mary Ellen to the dance where she lost the ring, was he? That was Ted Eccles who played Michael West. The guy in the wheelchair appeared in a few episodes as the same character, Mike Paxton played by Dennis Redfield. (He was the main 'bully' in The First Day and they guy in the hearing where John-Boy defended the 'cheater'. He and John-Boy eventually became good friends.)
Oh, yeah. Ted Eccles, also as Michael West, was also in The FIrst Day. He and John-Boy, plus the girl (Polly?) became friends and companions.
Ok bc Erin had mentioned she couldn't keep her eyes off him, but she was boy crazy.
|
|
|
Post by Easton on Oct 5, 2021 8:19:01 GMT -5
Dennis 'Mike Paxton' Redfield was in 4 Waltons episodes: The First Day, The System, The Fledgeling, and The Obstacle.
Ted 'Michael West' Eccles was in 2 episodes: The First Day and The Ring.
|
|
|
Post by nedandres on Oct 5, 2021 12:45:44 GMT -5
Are these guys still acting?
|
|
|
Post by Easton on Oct 5, 2021 14:25:35 GMT -5
^ Ted apparently quit acting in 1977 and became a producer/director.
Dennis Redfield's last screen appearance was in 1999.
|
|
|
Post by nedandres on Oct 5, 2021 22:32:45 GMT -5
^ Ted apparently quit acting in 1977 and became a producer/director. Dennis Redfield's last screen appearance was in 1999.
Thanks for the info, Easton. I appreciate it.
|
|
|
Post by Emmy on Mar 18, 2023 14:49:20 GMT -5
I just finished watching the episode with Mike Paxton again and yes Mary Ellen explains that Mike's spinal cord injury is permanent. He however does work hard with the adaptable things that Ike has for the car and the crutches and leg braces to be able to get to his feet.
I don't know how realistic this is for him to get up and walk that distance and up a few steps and drive a car if he is suppose to have some sort of permanent spinal cord injury without having a lot of rehab before any of that even happens, but maybe it could have. I just doubt it.
I knew my Grandma broke her leg and that was not permanent at all, but she needed a ton of rehab before she was able to do a lot of the normal things she was able to do and this was much later times that the Waltons.
|
|
|
Post by Easton on Mar 18, 2023 18:55:51 GMT -5
^ The crutches were for function. The braces were for support. It would just be a matter of learning how to use both. If you've seen The Ordeal with Elizabeth breaking her legs, she didn't have to learn to walk again (because she couldn't), she just had to make everything work differently.
|
|
|
Post by Emmy on Mar 18, 2023 19:01:37 GMT -5
^ The crutches were for function. The braces were for support. It would just be a matter of learning how to use both. If you've seen The Ordeal with Elizabeth breaking her legs, she didn't have to learn to walk again (because she couldn't), she just had to make everything work differently. But from what I got from that episode is that Mike got home and was sitting in that wheelchair for quite some time. I would think if someone would do that they would lose a lot of strength in their legs and not just be able to pick up some crutches and put on braces and start to walk. Not with a spinal cord injury. No way.
|
|
|
Post by Easton on Mar 18, 2023 19:21:47 GMT -5
^ He had no strength in his legs. No matter how strong he could make them, they would never work. All the exercise does is to keep his leg muscles from atrophying (losing muscle mass). The braces could never help him to walk. All they could do was to support him and help him to stand up while he used the crutches to help him to move (walk).
|
|
|
Post by Emmy on Mar 18, 2023 19:26:48 GMT -5
^ He had no strength in his legs. No matter how strong he could make them, they would never work. All the exercise does is to keep his leg muscles from atrophying (losing muscle mass). The braces could never help him to walk. All they could do was to support him and help him to stand up while he used the crutches to help him to move (walk). So what you are saying is the crutches were his legs? The thing is though his legs somehow still moved and from the little I know from spinal cord injuries his legs would not have been able to move at all.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2023 21:39:34 GMT -5
^ He had no strength in his legs. No matter how strong he could make them, they would never work. All the exercise does is to keep his leg muscles from atrophying (losing muscle mass). The braces could never help him to walk. All they could do was to support him and help him to stand up while he used the crutches to help him to move (walk). So what you are saying is the crutches were his legs? The thing is though his legs somehow still moved and from the little I know from spinal cord injuries his legs would not have been able to move at all. @emmy, you are correct. Even with the crutches being his legs , the actual legs would have had to follow behind forward movement of the crutches or soon Mike would have been flat on his face. I had a minor brain injury after falling through my attic ceiling many years ago and had to go into rehab for several weeks. I saw several spinal cord patients there and the only way they were able to move their legs was in this harness contraption that had these brace like things around each leg which was attached to electrodes that went onto the legs. The entire set up was then attached to a computer and the patient did an extensive workout while in the harness. There is no connection from the brain to the legs or whatever part of the body because the damaged part of the spine breaks that connection from happening. Mike might have been able to use his upper body strength to go up the steps pushing his legs with the crutches with all of his upper body strength and his legs would follow. The problem would have been getting to the steps.
|
|