By Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-West Correspondent

Friday, November 23, 2012

A Limerick quantity surveyor left blind and paralysed after a brutal assault, has taken the first steps from his wheelchair following stem cell treatment in China.

Brian Hogan, 35, was working in Nottingham in Jul 2009, when on a night out with friends, he was knocked to the ground without provocation, hitting his head on the pavement.

When an ambulance was called, he declined help. Some time later that night his condition deteriorated rapidly. When he came out of a coma, some weeks later, he was left blind and paralysed.

On his discharge from hospital in England, Brians parents and siblings gave him round-the-clock care at the family home in Ballykeeffe Estate, in Limerick.

His sister Siobhn Hogan said: "We did a lot of research and discovered a clinic in Bejing which offered stem cell infusions.

"It is a controversial treatment, but we decided Brian should have the opportunity to see if it could help him."

Now after the treatment, Brians family have seen a dramatic improvement in his condition.

"We were all teary-eyed last Tuesday when we watched him walk for a few steps after being helped out of the wheelchair," Siobhn said.

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Stem cell treatment allows Brian to take first steps on road to recovery