Paraplegic walks after crash horror

A HIT-AND-RUN victim who was paralysed from the waist down has taken his first faltering steps on a treadmill after pioneering treatment.

American Rob Summers, 25, is the first patient to respond to the therapy, which involves many hours of training combined with electrical stimulus.

He said: "This procedure has completely changed my life."

The treatment, which took 30 years to develop, by-passes the brain and "teaches" the spinal cord to control limbs and body functions independently.

As a result, Mr Summers, who is normally confined to a wheelchair, has been able to push himself up and stand for several minutes without assistance.

With help, he has also made repeated stepping motions on a treadmill and voluntarily moved his hips, knees, ankles and toes. In addition, he has regained some sexual function.

Scientists described the success, reported in the Lancet medical journal, as "a breakthrough" but cautioned that there was still much more work to be done.

Mr Summers was walking by a road in Portland, Oregon, when a car mounted the kerb and smashed into him on July 12 2006. Previously an athlete in peak physical condition, he suffered serious spinal cord damage which left him paraplegic.