Cell Transplant Enables Paralysed Man To Walk

Paralysed from the chest down after a brutal knife attack in 2010, Darek Fidyka was left with an 8mm gap in his spinal colum. With the help from scientists in London, surgeons in Poland have given Fidyka the opportunity to walk again, thanks to a joint effort into a new procedure using cell transplants from his olfactory bulbs.
Darek's injuries were so severe that no level of therapy could give him feeling back into his legs. After two years of extensive research and treatment, Fidyka finally recovered some feeling in his legs, feet, bowels, bladder and can now walk, albeit with assistance.

The scientists behind this treatment first extracted one of Fidyka's olfactory bulbs, before proceeding to grow external olfactory ensheathing cells and attach them onto his damaged spine. This process allowed nerve fibers to be linked back together and feeling to gradually come back.

for more info: