There were so many dreams and plans in front of the young Leo… A jump in the sea changed his life, as well as his family’s life, forever. The accident left him immobile. But then two months ago Leo started with robotic neurorehabilitation and the hope was reborn again.
‘We have literally started with one thread… Only one thread has stopped the spinal cord to split, and today the medical results are getting better and better. When we came to the clinic for neurorehabilitation with robotics I asked about the movement. They told me that is only a straw. But to me, straws are much more than a thread’ – says Darinka Manzoni, mother of the young Leo (25), who became immobile six years ago, after he had jumped in the sea.
That fatal day of June 19th 2012, the life of the Manzoni family from Lošinj turned upside down. There were so many dreams and plans in front of this young brave man… Just one day before the accident Leo had graduated from high school, and one fatal jump has erased everything.
‘Your son will be like a plant his whole life’
Because of a clumsy jump, Leo’s cervical spine C6 had broke and he drowned. The man who pulled him out of the sea was a doctor and was able to bring him back to life. His family went through another shock when the doctors told them there is no operation that could save him…
His mother Darinka, in spite of all the agony, still managed to find the courage and called everybody she knew and begged for something to be done for her son.
And finally he received a surgery…they got hope and a chance.
‘After the surgery, the doctor told me – ‘You have a plant on life support. For the entire life.’ But I told him that is my plant, and it doesn’t have to wither. And then Leo’s fight for life began – Darinka told us, with tears in her eyes.
After the accident, she quit her job and was next to her son 24 hours a day. She was teaching him to breathe again.
-They opened his lungs five times. I was standing next to him and teaching him how to breathe, the first day he was breathing a few hours without the apparatus, the next day a bit more, until finally he was completely off the apparatus.
You cannot imagine how much effort and hard work is needed for a person to breathe, how much sweat was shed for one breath. Exercise, anger, weakness, psychological ups and downs, negative doctor’s prognosis and feeling that you are fighting the whole world – says Darinka.
With the new hope these people obtained, in spite of the life’s tragedy, greet you with a biggest smile, and they got in the Polyclinic Glavić.
Neurorehabilitation with robotics
On January 15th Leo started neurorehabilitation with robotics. He has therapies six days a week, lasting six hours. – We hope that he will regain his muscle structure, so in case we don’t achieve some kind of movement here, we can continue with work at home. Leo handles everything really good, he looks forward to therapy, and sees the improvement. His hands are more flexible, it is much easier – says Leo’s mother, adding that they hope Leo will stand on his feet, but that also with his diagnosis, nobody can guarantee that he will succeed. We went to meet Leo in the Polyclinic. A secretive young man who greets his therapists with a smile on his face, who in this period have become also his friends. He, shortly, told us that he is very realistic. We even see by ourselves that he doesn’t want to be carried away, but says that he can see improvement. – I am satisfied. We are slowly improving. We’ll see. – says Leo. We saw the commitment of those young therapist as well. Their approach, relationship with their patients and the energy they emit, make it easier for all those brave people who come there to push forward. When Leo has made a bigger movement with his hand, the whole Polyclinic was celebrating. Everyone there is like a small family who, even in the hardest moments, doesn’t forget to be positive and to smile.
– Leo came to the Polyclinic with large knee contractors, says Tomislav, one of the therapists -and now this has already been improved a lot. Our goal is to achieve a bigger muscle mass. We are satisfied because we have achieved a range of movements. We have even achieved to control the feet – he added
INDEPENDENT SITTING
The chief physiotherapist, Ivana Popović, has introduced us to the devices on which Leo is doing his therapies.
– He is doing his therapies on Lokomat (made with the purpose of regaining the lower extremities functionality) which in Leo’s case we use to maintain the existing condition with the complication of some secondary things that might happen due to his diagnosis – the injury of his spinal cord. With Lokomat, he is in a correct posture, we improved his circulation, cardiovascular endurance…-says Ivana.
Leo is also in rehabilitation on devices for arm and trunk rehabilitation. – What he achieved here, said Ivana, – is a better posture and independent sitting. Before he wasn’t able to stand straight and keep a sitting position, which now he can.
– He is sitting more properly, has better arm movements, in shoulders and elbows, better muscle strength, and a better general improvement in arm movement. The spinal cord injury leaves little space and Leo is finding himself with the diagnosis that is very limiting – says Ivana, adding that Leo is much more functional in his everyday life, and also psychologically much better.
– In the beginning we didn’t even hear the sound of his voice. Today we are laughing and telling jokes – she says.
