Turkey Who Was Told by Doctors She Would Never Walk Again After Falling From a Sixth-floor Window Has Defied

Ceylan Ağaç (18), a second-year business administration student at Bursa Uludağ University, was visiting her family in Kars on May 21 when she fell from a sixth-floor window after a migraine attack made her dizzy. She suffered fractures in two vertebrae and was operated on at Kars Harakani State Hospital, where doctors said she would not be able to walk due to her spinal cord injury. In June, Ağaç was transferred to Ankara Etlik City Hospital's Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Hospital, where she was enrolled in a rehabilitation program at the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Clinic.

Her roughly three-month treatment included a robotic walking system, an anti-gravity treadmill, aquatic exercises, and individual therapy with a physiotherapist. Ağaç, who began treatment with no movement in her legs, made significant progress and is now standing and walking again. "I have migraines and I was feeling nauseous.

I opened the window. The moment I looked down, I fell. I was conscious when I fell.

After the surgery, in intensive care, the doctors said 'you won't walk, you're paralyzed, they said 'there is a 1 percent chance. I suffered a lot during that time. Physical therapy didn't work at first.

Then on June 13, I came to Ankara by helicopter ambulance. I was in a lot of pain, but I kept telling myself, 'Ceylan, you will get better in Ankara. We arrived here in 1.5 hours by helicopter.

When I first arrived, no one could touch me, I was in so much pain. I started physical therapy 3 weeks after arriving. Sometimes I say 'my condition on the first day was very bad.

Right now, thanks to my physiotherapist Adil Bey, my doctors' treatment, and my determination, I overcame it and I walked." I feel very good right now, Ağaç said. Describing how she gradually progressed from sitting up in bed to sitting in a chair and then walking with support, Ağaç said: "I never believed I wouldn't walk. I had a lot of confidence in myself.

At first I let myself go, but then I said 'I will do it. The doctors here gave me a lot of confidence. They always said 'you can do it, you're young.

Here, we do resistance exercises to strengthen my muscles, electrical stimulation is applied to the muscles, and we do balance exercises. We do pool and computerized exercises. I can walk on my own in the pool.

Then I gradually started walking with support and I am walking. It's such a beautiful feeling, indescribable. In the first days I couldn't even lift my head.

Now I am walking. I've turned that 1 percent into 99 percent now. I have a lot of confidence in myself.

I will complete that 1 percent too, God willing. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zeynep Tuba Bahtiyarca from the Spinal Cord Injury Clinic at Ankara Etlik City Hospital explained that Ağaç developed a traumatic spinal cord injury due to two vertebral fractures in her lower back.

"When Ceylan first came to our clinic, she had no active movement in her feet and legs. But she had partial preservation in her legs and sensation. We first arranged medical treatment for pain control.

After the patient's pain subsided, we used sitting exercises, sitting balance, various electrical stimulations, bicycle exercises, and robotic rehabilitation to help her relearn standing, weight transfer, and walking. Afterwards, the patient was brought to her feet at the parallel bars. In the following period, she progressed to walking with a walker and now with a cane, Bahtiyarca said, adding that they plan to discharge the patient after a 2-3 week rehabilitation period.

Physiotherapist Adil Songur said they work to increase the independence of patients with spinal cord injuries in the clinic, noting that through robotic exercises they enabled Ağaç to walk, and their goal is to discharge her in a fully independent state. Ağaç's treatment continues at the hospital in Ankara.