For Nicole Richards, a mutt named Yukon looks a lot like hope -- if not for her, then for people like her.

Richards is the 18-year-old former Perry Meridian High School gymnast paralyzed in a car crash in February. Yukon, jumping up for doggie treats Monday, once was paralyzed in his hindquarters, suffering from a herniated disc.

But a medical procedure by Purdue University scientists restored mobility to Yukon. And the federal government says the experiment now can be tried on people.

With approval from the Food and Drug Administration, researchers from Purdue and Indiana universities will team up to implant battery-operated devices in human patients -- experiments that could begin by the end of the year.

Their efforts will be boosted by an infusion of $2.7 million from dog-lover Mari Hulman George of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway family. Her donation comes on top of the $2 million appropriated in 1999 by the Indiana General Assembly to fund spinal cord research.