A stroke victim who has been paralysed for more than two decades can walk again after being injected with Botox.

Russell McPhee was a healthy meat worker who played football, cricket and basketball when, at the age of 26, he collapsed suddenly at work. When he woke in hospital he was told he had suffered a stroke and would never walk again.

“I felt my life had ended,” he said. “I lost my job, my wife left me, I ended up with nothing.”

Today, Mr McPhee, 49, of Gippsland in Victoria, can walk almost unaided for up to 20 metres and can cover 100 metres with a walking frame. “I thought I would die in my wheelchair,” he said.

“My life has started all over again. I have seen people cry when they realise I’m standing beside my chair. Tough men, blokes I went to school with and played sport with, weep when they see me.”

His rapid improvement came after treatment with Botox, or botulinum toxin injections at the St John of God Nepean Rehabilitation Hospital in Frankston, Victoria.

Only one month after his first injection, he was able to stand up and walk a few yards with a helper on either side. Now he can walk the length of a room with only a guiding hand on his arm.

Botox is an accepted treatment for the type of paralysis commonly associated with strokes. It was used to treat muscle spasm years before it was adopted for cosmetic use.

Patients usually show the best effects if they are treated soon after a stroke. Such a dramatic improvement after so long is almost unheard of.

Nathan Johns, Mr McPhee’s doctor, said that Botox on its own would not have worked without Mr McPhee’s extraordinary strength of will.

“Usually giving a patient botulinum toxin relieves the stiffness by relaxing the muscle, but it also weakens the muscle which means the patient would not regain much mobility,” said Dr Johns, a rehabilitation specialist.

“But Russell had unusually good muscle power despite the fact that he had been in a wheelchair for so long.”

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