Ryan Straschnitzki says he should be back in action in āno time.ā
And while he doesnāt think heāll be walking just yet, the 20-year-old Humboldt Broncos player certainly plans to hit the ice for sledge hockey practice soon.
Itās an ambitious plan for someone who just underwent major spinal surgery in Thailand. But Straschnitzki has good reason to be optimistic.
On Wednesday, Straschnitzki, who was paralyzed from the chest down in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, moved his leg for the first time in a year and a half.
āIt didnāt feel real,ā he told Ā鶹“«Ć½ Channel from Bangkok, Thailand on Friday. āNot being able to move my legs for that long, Iāve kind of gotten used to it and doing that now makes me even more hopeful for the future.ā
The remarkable feat was captured on camera by his father who . In the short clip, Straschnitzki can be seen bending his left knee back and forth before a wide grin spreads across his face.
The moment came only two days after Straschnitzki had an epidural stimulator implanted in his spine. The small device sends electrical currents to his spinal cord in order to stimulate nerves and move his limbs.
āBefore the surgery I had no movement below my chest,ā Straschnitzki said. āAfter the surgery, the first mapping session we did is the video my dad tookā¦ he said āAll right move your legā and I imagined pulling my leg back and it moved on its own. It was pretty surreal.ā
The āmapping sessionā involves Straschnitzkiās surgeons and therapists programming the device in his spine to stimulate certain nerves. The process is expected to take several weeks, but Straschnitzki said heās already feeling confident that he will be able to continue training while heās still in Thailand.
āRecoveryās going good,ā he said. āI do a lot of physio and programming to get the legs working. Iām very grateful for that and should be back in action in no timeā¦ back in a sled right away.ā
Straschnitzki hopes to make Canadaās national sledge hockey team before the next Winter Paralympics in 2022.
The young athlete also said he hopes to be able to walk again someday.
āItās been over a year and a half and Iām already having this surgery thatās helped me move my limbs again,ā he said.
Following the bus crash in April 2018, which killed 16 people and injured 12 others, Straschnitzki said his doctors told him he would never walk again. But even that devastating blow wasnāt enough to deter him, even at that difficult time.
āI feel like some doctors always tell that to patients because they donāt want to get their hopes up. For me, at the Foothills hospital I was told that and right away I knew thatās not going to be my end goal,ā he said.
āIām going to do whatever it takes to get moving again.ā
