system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: When a person's spine is severed at the neck - paralyzing them - how does their brain continue to send signals to their heart and lungs to continue operating?
gpt
*Severing* your spinal cord will kill you dead.

*Damaging* your spinal cord in a certain way can cause tetrapeligia--the loss of use of your arms, legs, and torso. The damage isn't complete enough to kill you (your heart will still beat, for instance) but everything else becomes very difficult if not impossible. Commonly, assisted breathing is necessary.