Botox helps Australian stroke victim to walk
again
SYDNEY (AFP) - - An Australian stroke victim paralysed
for more than 20 years has walked again thanks to anti-wrinkle drug
botox, in a case hailed as extraordinary by his medical team.
Russell McPhee, 49, was confined to a wheelchair after suffering
a severe stroke 23 years ago that left him so disabled that doctors
initially told him he would never leave hospital.
But after being injected with botox, the anti-ageing treatment
popular among Hollywood celebrities, McPhee can walk around his
home unaided and travel up to 100 metres (330 feet) using a walking
stick.
"I thought I was going to die in a wheelchair," McPhee told
AFP.
The former meatworker admitted he and girlfriend Kerry Crossley
were initially sceptical when told about the treatment.
"(Kerry) chipped in and said 'what, don't you think he's pretty
enough?'" McPhee said.
Botox, or botulinum toxin, blocks the nerve signals which tell
muscles to contract, flattening wrinkles when used on the face. But
it can also help patients left immobile by brain injuries, multiple
sclerosis, spinal problems or strokes.
Valentina Maric, physiotherapist at the St. John of God Hospital
in Victoria state, explained that McPhee was unable to walk because
the stroke had left his muscles in permanent spasm.
"The muscles were turned on all the time because of the messages
coming from his brain," she said.
The botox stopped the spasms, Maric said, allowing the McPhee to
stretch out the affected leg muscles for the first time in decades
and strengthen other muscles needed for walking.
She said muscles that had not been used for so long would
normally have withered away, but McPhee's were remarkably intact,
leading to rapid progress after he started the treatment 18 months
ago.
"You usually see results in someone who has recently had a
stroke but we've never has such a good response from someone so far
down the track (decades after a stroke)," Maric said.
"The botox provided the kickstart needed to start the
treatment."
However, doctor Nathan Johns stressed that McPhee's muscle
strength and determination were a key element in his remarkable
progress.
"Not every case is so successful," he said. "Mr McPhee had
unusually good muscle power and great determination, despite the
fact that he had been confined to a wheelchair for so long."
McPhee said he had been forced to push through the pain barrier
to become mobile again.
"It's not just a matter of getting your botox injection then
going to bed and being able to walk in the morning, it takes a lot
of hard work," he said.
He says inspiration came from girlfriend Kerry, a childhood
sweetheart who rescued him from a spiral of depression and talked
him into rehabilitation when they were reunited two-and-a-half
years ago.
"I was in a pretty bad way with depression," said McPhee, who
played football, cricket, basketball and tennis -- "any sport you
like" -- before his stroke.
"I felt like my life was over."
With the help of Kerry and the team from St. John of God, McPhee
hopes that one day he will no longer need the three-monthly botox
shots in his legs and arm.
McPhee said he was working on making his non-spastic muscles
strong enough to compensate for the ones that contract, creating a
long-term solution to his condition.
"That's the aim," said McPhee, adding that he also plans to
marry Kerry.
--AFP