A MAN who was badly hurt in a car accident six years ago has stood up for the first time since his injury.
Chris Walmsley, 33, was knocked down by a car on Richmond Hill in November 2006 suffering severe injuries.
In August 2011 he went to Germany to receive pioneering stem cell treatment using his own stem cells, and has shown a noticeable improvement since then.
His mother Carol Walmsley said: ‘He needs a lot of support but I just couldn’t stop myself from smiling, it’s such a huge step forward to see him on his own two feet.
‘I’m not saying it’s all down to the stem cell treatment because he has had a lot of therapy with various carers going in,’ she said.
Since his accident Chris has spent a lot of time being cared for at Abbotswood home but also spends a couple of nights a week now at his parents’ house in Port Erin.
Mrs Walmsley said they had received tremendous help from Chris’s neurological physiotherapist who had been gradually building up his skills.
‘About five weeks ago she said, ‘‘do you fancy trying something?’’ and now she’s got him doing it regularly.
‘We bought a mirror for him and now he is able to alter his posture and straighten himself up using the mirror.
‘It’s fair to say if we let him go he would fall in a heap but with help he is standing and he is taking his own weight, so who knows where we will go from here?’
Since the accident, which happened six years ago last Friday, Chris has spent much of his time sitting, so to be able to stand was also beneficial to his health because it affected things like kidney function, not to mention his self-esteem, Mrs Walmsley said.
‘I’m sure we still have rough times ahead but this does something to make up for the trauma,’ she added.
‘It’s something I didn’t dream we would see him doing with or without support.’
She said they took advice from two different neurologists before going ahead with the treatment and the consensus was at worst, it would do no harm.
‘He wanted to have it done, but we didn’t want to engage in some treatment that might harm him,’ she said.
‘But in fact I saw a difference within a couple of days because his right arm relaxed and he could touch his nose.’
To see him standing at my height for the first time in six years makes all my Christmases in one go. There were tears rolling down my face,’she said.