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Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...s-9807010.html
Amazing stuff, this cure could possibly heal millions of people and save future lives. Paul Williams will be back baby.
In the first procedure of its kind anywhere in the world, doctors implanted harvested cells - known as olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) - into an 8mm gap in the spinal cord of Darek Fidyka, a Bulgarian who was confined to a wheelchair in 2010 after an attacker stabbed him in the back, slicing cleanly through his spine. His doctors had given him a less than one per cent chance of even the slightest recovery.
But doctors report today that the OEC implants on the two ***8220;stumps***8221; of the cord slowly restored the nerve fibre connections between both sides of the injury, returning feeling and then movement to Darek***8217;s legs. Some ten months after the surgery, the 40-year-old former part-time firefighter was able to walk with the aid of braces and a walking frame. He is now able to drive and live more independently.
Professor Geoffrey Raisman, the head of UCL***8217;s Institute of Neurology who conducted the groundbreaking research into OECs, told The Independent: ***8220;I believe this is the first time that a patient has been able to regenerate severed long spinal nerve fibres across an injury and resume movement and feeling.
But doctors report today that the OEC implants on the two ***8220;stumps***8221; of the cord slowly restored the nerve fibre connections between both sides of the injury, returning feeling and then movement to Darek***8217;s legs. Some ten months after the surgery, the 40-year-old former part-time firefighter was able to walk with the aid of braces and a walking frame. He is now able to drive and live more independently.
Professor Geoffrey Raisman, the head of UCL***8217;s Institute of Neurology who conducted the groundbreaking research into OECs, told The Independent: ***8220;I believe this is the first time that a patient has been able to regenerate severed long spinal nerve fibres across an injury and resume movement and feeling.
Amazing stuff, this cure could possibly heal millions of people and save future lives. Paul Williams will be back baby.
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