Stem cell hope to walk again

WELL known local businessman Trevor Leckey is getting ready for what could be the most important journey of his life when he travels to Zurich next month for stem cell treatment which he is hoping will give him back the use of his legs.

Trevor, who owns Stoneyford Concrete, was paralysed in a horrific motorcycling accident in 2006.

He was competing in a circuit race in Aghadowey when a suspected mechanical failure caused him to lose control of his bike and crash into a metal pole, severing his spine and leaving him unconscious for almost two months in the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Despite undergoing physiotherapy at Musgrave Park Hospital, Trevor never regained the use of his legs but he has never lost his determination to do everything he could to walk again.

Trevor is in terrible pain 24 hours a day and has to take morphine to deal with the agony. "I try to make it out to the garden to scream in pain at night so that I don't wake the children," he said.

revor will travel to Zurich in February for five days of treatment at the X-Cell Center. He will then have to wait for three months for the therapy to pass through his system before flying to Fort Lauderdale in the United States for intensive physiotherapy. His ambition is to leave his wheelchair behind and be able to walk again, albeit with the help of crutches.

"My goal is to get onto a pair of crutches," he added.

Trevor is the first person from the UK to travel to the Zurich clinic. It is approved by the American FDA which regulates medical devices and drugs.