The paralysed Polish man who regained his ability to walk after receiving revolutionary treatment said today he was a "lucky devil", as his doctors announced they were looking for new candidates for the procedure.
Darek Fidyka, 40, was paralysed from the chest down by a knife attack in 2010 but can now walk using a frame after nerve cells were transplanted into his severed spinal column two years ago.
"I hope to recover further," said Fidyka alongside his doctors at a press conference in the southwestern city of Wroclaw, a day after the research behind the breakthrough treatment was published in the journal Cell Transplantation.
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"The attack turned my life upside down. Since the surgical operation, it's been steps in the opposite direction," the former fireman told reporters.
"I'm already able to get myself into bed, to dress and undress without help, to drive," he said, tears welling up in his eyes.
"I'm still having a hard time processing it all. I'm a lucky devil, relatively speaking."
Wlodzimierz Jarmundowicz, who heads neurosurgery at the Polish clinic where the operation was carried out, however cautioned against raising "the hopes of every person with a damaged spine".
The treatment can only be applied to "injuries caused by a sharp instrument, like a machete," he said.
Pawel Tabakow, who led the team of surgeons in the medical procedure, said the injury "is very rare".
They are now looking for two more patients suffering from similar injuries from across the world.
The criteria will be posted, in Polish, on the website of the Akron Neuro-Rehabilitation Centre in Wroclaw where Fidyka was recovering.
An English version will go up on the website of the University College London's Institute of Neurology, whose British research team collaborated on the project.
The two institutions had worked "in synergy" on the project for years, but it was chance that led to the revolutionary treatment, Tabakow said.
He said that doctors generally take the cells that are supposed to promote nerve regeneration straight from the patient's nose. But that was not possible in Fidyka's case because of sinus inflammation.
