Stroke research a game-changer
When Peter Coghlan hit his head on a concrete slab more than two years ago, he saw stars but did not think anything of it.
Days later, he woke from an induced coma in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital paralysed and able to move only his eyelids.
Mr Coghlan was told he had developed locked-in syndrome after a stroke and would probably never walk or talk again.
But the 36-year-old, who also survived Hodgkin lymphoma, refused to accept the diagnosis and began defying the odds.
In an interview airing on Channel 7's Sunday Night this evening, Mr Coghlan opens up about what it is like to be "locked in hell".
"It's like being in restraints and gagged because you can't talk or move," he said. "I was raging inside but at the same time I wanted to cry, but I couldn't."
The former British soldier went from moving one thumb to walking from a rehabilitation centre just six months and one day after the stroke.
He now works at odd jobs, has written a book about his experience and recently completed the 12km City to Surf fun run.
Stroke is Australia's second biggest killer after heart attacks and a leading cause of disability.
Postdoctoral research fellow David Putrino said the key to stroke rehabilitation was perseverance and determination.
Dr Putrino, from New York University, is one of two Perth expatriates performing groundbreaking research into stroke rehabilitation in the US.
He works with Weill Cornell Medical College assistant professor Dylan Edwards on a tele- rehabilitation concept that gives patients their own "virtual therapist".
The pair hope to make proved therapy exercises more engaging, safe and accessible through a gaming approach using cheap motion-capture technology.
See the full interview on Sunday Night at 8.30pm.
