A small step on the road back to independence
Ihad a lump in my throat when I read about the paralysed American man painstakingly walking by willpower alone, thanks to electrodes round his knees.
It wasn’t like in the movies, where the hero stands, falters… then strides towards his love interest, all in the space of one tracking shot.
The unnamed 26-year-old’s progress was heartbreakingly slow and lumbering, and needed a harness and frame to support him.
It required such effort, such technology, such investment that some witnesses might wonder: was it worth it? Yes. Wholeheartedly, yes. Six years ago, I broke my back in a riding accident on holiday in France.
Spooked, I think, by an imminent thunderstorm, every one of the animals bolted. My horse – too big, too fresh for my limited competency – deliberately threw me.
As I lay, spine snapped, in the mud during the subsequent downpour, I felt not just appalling pain but an animalistic fear that is impossible to convey. Later, in hospital, the care was superb, but the fracture unstable. I lay for a week not knowing whether I would walk again.
It’s an experience that concentrates the mind. At first, I wished I was dead for everyone else’s sake; the prospect of being paralysed and living a fulfilling, worthwhile life – as, of course, people can and do – was impossible to imagine. I felt hopeless because something I had always taken for granted was no longer a given.
Then, after those dark moments of despair and prayer had lifted, all I dreamed of was being once again able to take control and move myself.
Walking is the most potent symbol of independence. When babies finally get to their feet, we clap and cheer. It is a cause for celebration, a milestone. As is news that a young man paralysed five years ago in a motorcycle accident has made one small step that really is a giant leap for mankind.