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Car crash survivor has head reattached to spine, hopes to return home soon

Tony Cowan

By all accounts, Tony Cowan is lucky to be alive.

On September 9, the British man’s car hit a speed bump, spun out of control and crashed into a telephone poll.

Paramedics resuscitated Cowan, 29, before rushing him to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary via police escort. There, doctors discovered Cowan had suffered a C2 fracture to his neck and a complete spinal cord injury — his head was essentially detached from his spine, connected only by muscle and tissue — something the medical staff deemed to be almost “unsurvivable.”

He had no brain activity.

As Cowan’s partner, Karen Dawson, his mother and the rest of his family gathered to say goodbye, he opened his eyes.

In a rare operation, consultant neurosurgeon Anant Kamat reattached Cowan’s skull to his spine with a metal plate. Remarkably, Cowan pulled through.

And while the ex-bricklayer will likely never again walk, talk, eat or breathe on his own, he is learning to communicate with loved ones by blinking, mouthing words, and using an electric board.

“The consultants say Tony is a mystery and unique and they don’t know how he is still alive. He has amazed the consultants by regaining some facial movements and learning how to smile, he can mime words and we make communication with him through an electric board,” Pepsi Cowan told the Newcastle Chronicle.

Aware that there’s little doctors can do for him now — and anticipating that his remaining days are numbered — Cowan’s family is now crowdfunding money for equipment that will allow him to leave his rehabilitation centre and move into a bungalow that has been adapted to meet his needs in his hometown of Chester-le-Street, where a care team will look after him around the clock.

They’ve raised just over one-third of their £15,000 ($28,600 CAD) goal so far.

“I love him so much and it would mean the world to me to get him home. We were like two peas in a pod and spent all our time together,” said Dawson.

“We are going to give Tony as much a normal life as possible, we have assured him we will be there for him every day, and he will never be alone.”

“After spending months in intensive care, Tony is now in rehab but there is nothing more that can be done for him, we want to give Tony, for whatever time he has left, a chance of some normality,” she added.

Ewan Dick, acting directorate manager for the Neurosciences Directorate at the RVI, told the Newcastle Chronicle that he’s pleased with Cowan’s remarkable progress so far:

“Tony is making good progress with his life changing injury, and has benefited from the integrated neurosciences approach of neurosurgery, neurology and ITU doctors provided here at the RVI in Newcastle.

“We are delighted to see that Tony has survived an ‘unsurvivable’ injury,” he added.