It is as far as known for the first time that a paralyzed person can walk again. A 40-year-old Pole was paralyzed from his waist after his spinal cord was cut through the middle. Thanks to British scientists, he is no longer confined to a wheelchair. "This is more impressive than a man walking on the moon.
Darek Fidyka is seen as the first human being cured after such a chronic injury. He was stabbed several times four years ago, causing his spinal cord to cut through the middle. The injury of the man is similar to that of actor Christopher Reeve, whose spinal cord was injured after falling from a horse in 1995.
"If you do not feel nearly half of your own body, you feel helpless. Once that feeling comes back, it feels like you were born again, "Darek says to BBC. According to the man it was a 'great feeling' to be able to walk again.
'Historical change'
Professor Geoffrey Raisman and his team discovered the technique with which the man is healed. 'We believe that this treatment is a breakthrough. If it is developed further, it will be a historic change in the hopeless view that people, paralyzed by injury to their spinal cord, currently have. This is more impressive than a man walking on the moon. "
Yet Darek can not do everything according to Raisman. "He has to walk with the help of a walking frame, but he can do a lot again what he could do for his injuries, like driving a car. But he probably can not do something like dancing. "
Sometimes people with partial paraplegia cure, but a complete fracture was always seen as irreparable. Scientists in Poland used cells from the nose of Fidyka to grow nerve cells. These were placed in the spinal cord, so that the broken part was healed again.