Paralyzed man walks after botox treatment

FRANKSTON, Australia, June 5 (UPI) -- An Australian man says Botox injections enabled him to walk again 20 years after he was paralyzed with a stroke.

"My life has started all over again," said Russell McPhee. "I have seen people cry when they realize I'm standing beside my chair. Tough men, blokes I went to school with and played sport with, weep when they see me."

McPhee, 49, lost the ability to walk when he suffered a stroke at age 26, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday. After being treated with botox, however, McPhee was able within a month to stand and start walking and has increased his distance to about 65 feet, doctors at St. John of God Nepean Rehabilitation Hospital in Frankston, Victoria, said.

While botox is an accepted treatment for the type of paralysis commonly associated with strokes, patients show the best results when treated soon after a stroke, said Nathan Johns, McPhee's doctor.

McPhee benefitted from Botox, a muscle relaxant, because he had "unusually good muscle power despite the fact that he had been in a wheelchair for so long," Johns said.