Remove borders in first table column cells with italic words

[Davidl88]

I have a table. In the the first column, each cell has a word either in italics or not. Is there a way to remove the top and bottom borders for all cells with italic words (in first column only, the other table columns would still have their borders), except if the cell below has a word without italics (in which case the connecting bottom border would remain but top border connecting with cell above containing another italic word would be removed)? A VBA that removed the top border of any cell in the first column with text in Italics only would work.

[macropod]

For example:

Sub Demo()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim r As Long
With Selection
  If .Information(wdWithInTable) = False Then Exit Sub
  With .Tables(1)
    .Rows.Alignment = wdAlignRowCenter
    For r = 1 To .Rows.Count - 1
      If .Cell(r, 1).Range.Characters.First.Font.Italic = True Then
        If .Cell(r + 1, 1).Range.Characters.First.Font.Italic = True Then
          .Cell(r, 1).Borders(wdBorderBottom).LineStyle = wdLineStyleNone
        End If
      End If
    Next
  End With
End With
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub