Paralysed Croydon man astounded Mayday doctors by walking again (From Croydon Guardian)

Paralysed Croydon man astounded Mayday doctors by walking again

7:30am Monday 6th September 2010 in

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A man trapped in his own body after he was completely paralysed by a devastating stroke defied medical opinion by learning to walk again.

Medical miracle Graham Miles, 66, could not move any part of his body after he suffered a stroke in 1993 while driving to his home in Sanderstead.

The father-of-two was taken to hospital and awoke from a coma two days later to discover the only movement he could make was blinking his eyes.

Doctors at Mayday Hospital diagnosed locked-in syndrome and told him he would never walk again.

But a mere six months later he took his first steps with the help of a walking frame and he now races cars in his spare time.

The syndrome is caused by a lesion in the part of the brain stem that acts as a link between the brain and the body.

Experts feared Mr Miles, like other sufferers of the condition, would die after a few months.

But the grandfather, a former gas engineer, who struggled at first to breathe, was determined not to spend the rest of his life stuck in a bed.

He started to concentrate on moving parts of his body, and regaining the power of speech.

It took four months of intense concentration for him to get a flicker of movement in his big toe.

After six months in hospital he amazed doctors by making a miraculous recovery and walking a few steps with the help of a frame.

Mr Miles, who now lives in Brighton, told the BBC: “Initially, even thinking was exhausting in the first few days.

“Some months afterwards when I could talk with a few words I asked a nurse why they wouldn’t attend to me. She said ‘We were told not to because you were dying’.”

Mr Miles’s recovery was very slow but in 2007 he began to receive help from Daniel Cleal, a movement specialist.

He can now walk short distances without the help of his sticks and races his E-type Jaguar in his spare time.

He believes he regained the power of movement by tapping into the power of the brain.