After four years of paralysis from his chest down, a Bulgarian man is walking again with the aid of a frame and driving a car. Darek Fidyka, 38, was paralysed after a stabbing incident that left his spinal cord severely damaged.

His returned mobility came when doctors removed cells from his nose and placed them around the damaged area of his spine. This prompted the spinal cord to begin to repair itself in an unprecedented fashion.

Scientists are considering this a very big breakthrough in paralysis treatment and it is the culmination of 40 years of work by Professor Geoff Raisman of the University College London. It was he who noted that cells in the nose are among the only cells in the nervous system that routinely regenerate throughout a lifetime.

These cells have the potential to fix damage done to nasal nerves, he noted. Because specialized cells have been known to inform surrounding cells of what functions to perform, he wondered if the cells could be used to regenerate areas that did not automatically fix themselves.

Raisman initially began testing his observations on rats in the late 1990’s. He says he knew he had succeeded in his experiments when a rat began moving a hand it had not been able to move before.

In Fidyka’s case, surgeons took cells from his nose and some nerves from his ankle that served as a bridge over the scar tissue. This allowed for a return of sensation in his lower body as well as the return of some mobility.

For the first human trial, surgeons opted for an easier case and caution that the success they achieved may not be repeated in all. However, the excitement and hope felt by the team is very real.

“I believe this is the moment when paralysis can be reversed,” Raisman said.