Adrian's story

Movement that matters

There is a moment in time that stands still in the mind of 43-year-old Adrian Walsh. In an instant on 18 June 2017, life for this active father of three changed forever.

"I'd been a mountain biker for 23 years. I was out for a ride with my mates in the bush and went over the handlebars. I head-butted a tree and hit the deck. I knew straight away that I couldn't feel my legs. All I could think about at that moment, laying still on my back, was my wife and kids," he says.

He was laid out on a rock and waited anxiously for help to arrive in the company of his friends - all too aware that any movement could do more damage. Three hours later he was air-lifted to hospital and the grim reality of examining the injury and its full impact began.

"My friend rang my wife and got her to come down to the hospital. When I woke up, I was just staring at the ceiling. They put me in a crucifix position with my arms out to the side, which was really quite painful. I got told that I'd dislocated my neck, so they had a weight connected to the back of my head to try and bring it back into alignment," he says.

Adrian was diagnosed with C5 quadriplegia after a C6-C7 dislocation. He couldn't straighten his elbow and had no movement in his wrists, hands, trunk and legs. Doctors told Adrian that he would need a wheelchair to get around and help with most activities of daily living. It was a very serious diagnosis, but one that Adrian has been doing his best to overcome ever since.

"I was in ICU for a week, then in the trauma ward for three weeks, and then I stayed in hospital for four months doing rehabilitation. Life is so much different now rolling around on two wheels, but my family is such a great source of support and my youngest daughter still holds out hope that I'll be able to walk again," he says.

Hope is appreciated, but when it comes to his chances of walking again, Adrian is a self-confessed realist. His focus now is learning how to maximise his new life in a wheelchair.

"Looking at the MRI of my spinal cord, it's not great. Miracles do happen, but I think I have about a five percent chance of walking again. With physio I have regained some movement in my legs and minimal movement in a standing position, but not enough to make me walk again. I think my future is in this chair. It is what it is and I can't change it."

But an active person at heart, and with three kids aged eight, 10 and 12, Adrian has made a conscious decision to invest in his long-term recovery.

With the help of his surgeon and peripheral nerve specialist, Dr Alex O'Beirne, and a skilled occupational therapy team, Adrian embraced an opportunity to participate in a clinical trial testing the merits of Orthocell's nerve repair device [Remplir™].

"In rehab I met a lady who'd had a similar treatment and I was told they were going to be trialing it in Perth. I had nothing to lose," he says.

Twelve months after the procedures, Adrian can manipulate objects with better fine motor control and can even attempt tasks that require two hands.

"I can do simple things like pull a cup towards me on the table and hold it with my left hand. I'm trying to use both hands to pick up objects now too, which I couldn't do previously," he says.

Perhaps the biggest impact since the nerve repair treatment is his capacity to lift his elbow above his head and hold it steady. Previously, if he lifted his elbow up or tried to push his wheelchair, his arm would just drop down to his side.

"I now have some finger movement and can hold my fingers in place, whereas before, they would just open up and my hand would drop away," he says.

"The tricep treatment has helped me immensely with lifting and pushing too. My triceps were so weak that I could be pushing my wheelchair and every six pushes or so, my arm would just give out and fall away. I can push confidently all the time now. It feels about 500 percent better than before the procedure."

Adrian does his best to remain active, and although the former electrician had to hang up his tools after the accident, now with restored control over his fingers and thumb, he is in the early stages of shaping a new career.

"Since the accident I've managed a renovation on our house, I go to the gym a couple of times a week, and I play wheelchair rugby," he says.

"I've just started studying a double diploma in Project Management and Building Construction Management too, because I really want to work again. Having improved hand function will help me so much in an office job - I might even be able to do two finger typing instead of one finger typing. That would be great," he says.

He's got his sights set on a bigger set of wheels too.

"I have just got my drivers license back. I'm now waiting for modifications on my car to get signed off so I can start driving again, which will vastly improve our home life. I drive with my good arm, my left arm, and I accelerate and break with the right arm. Improved arm and finger function makes this so much easier - it's a big help."

Adrian has no regrets about participating in the trial and the says experience has given him hope after his devastating accident.

"If you don't give it a go, you're never going to know. It's been so worth it."