How learning to walk again after horror car crash gave electrician Marlon Laight a new perspective on life and family

Marlon Laight feared he would never walk again after a car crash – now he hopes to train as a physiotherapist to help others following an extraordinary recovery. Chris Burn reports.

“It has given me a new perspective on life,” reflects Marlon Laight on the extraordinary journey he has been on in the past three years following his involvement in a devastating car crash and gradual rehabilitation process where he has learnt to walk – and even run and shadow box – again. “I just used to take life for granted and thought it was always going to be exactly the same way.

“Ever since this accident, it has brought home the whole meaning of how precious your life is. My family means so much to me. I wouldn’t be here if my mum hadn’t allowed me to get this rehabilitation.”

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On April 27, 2018, Marlon’s life was changed forever when the 27-year-old electrician took off his seatbelt for a split second to recover the e-cigarette he had dropped by the side of his seat as he drove through Cleethorpes. He crashed with another car and his vehicle went through a bus stop – leaving him fighting for life with terrible head and body injuries.

“I remember absolutely nothing of the crash, I only know from what is written in the police records,” he says.

He was in a coma for three weeks in intensive care and when he left hospital after eight months, the prognosis for the future was bleak with Marlon being wheelchair-bound and told the potential for improvement was limited. But his mother Helen decided to try a recently-opened neuro rehabilitation centre on the outskirts of Leeds run by a private company called MOTIONrehab.

The centre, based in an unremarkable-looking office building at a business park in Morley, uses state-of-the-art robotics and virtual reality technology to help clients like brain injury sufferers, stroke victims and children with cerebral palsy.

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Helen and Marlon began making a regular four-hour round trip from Humberston to Morley in the hope that he could gain some level of independence back and perhaps learn to walk again.

Marlon at MOTIONrehab in Morley.Marlon at MOTIONrehab in Morley.
Marlon at MOTIONrehab in Morley.

When he began attending in November 2018, Marlon was in a wheelchair and needed full assistance for transfers and support for all his personal care needs.

Marlon says: “It was absolutely unbelievable to think I could achieve being able to stand up properly. I literally couldn’t do anything, I was pretty much bed-bound. It could have been my destiny for the rest of my life.”

But by using technology such as a robotic gait trainer called Lyra which holds an individual’s feet in place on mobile footplates and replicates the movement of  natural walking patterns, by February 2019 he was taking his first steps supported by therapists and by June that year, he was walking around the clinic with minimal support. By August, he was walking down a road by himself.

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His mother Helen says: “Because we had seen the walking machine – that was his hope, to be able to walk and get out of his wheelchair was a massive ambition and just to kind of get to the stage of doing one or two things.”

As well as relearning to walk, Marlon also had to regain the use of other limbs.As well as relearning to walk, Marlon also had to regain the use of other limbs.
As well as relearning to walk, Marlon also had to regain the use of other limbs.

Sarah Daniel, director of MOTIONrehab, says: “I remember Marlon had been with us for about three weeks and his mum was sat there and I looked at her and said, ‘He will walk, I’m really confident he is going to walk’. You could see the changes in front of your own eyes very quickly.”

Marlon says taking his first steps again was an emotional moment. “It was unbelievable, I cried because I was so happy.”

His therapy at the facility lasted a year and he went three days a week for three hours a day. The family sought NHS funding for the treatment but were unsuccessful so it was paid through his mother’s savings.

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Helen says: “Luckily I could afford to do that. I couldn’t have left him with no hope. They were emergency funds and it has been worth every penny.”

Marlon with his mum Helen.Marlon with his mum Helen.
Marlon with his mum Helen.

Learning to walk was far from the only challenge Marlon had to overcome.

His left hand had been balled into a fist for eight months and he used a machine called an Amadeo, which repeats hand movements at high intensity, to gradually get his fingers back working again.

Marlon adds relearning skills he had once taken for granted was a powerful experience. “Being taught how to roll over in bed was the best. I had literally slept laid on my back for a solid year and I was dying to just be able to lie on my side.”

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He adds: “It just makes me so happy that everything I achieved makes my mum proud. There was no hope for me. During the first lockdown I managed to walk 22.2 miles all by myself. Then after that, I have actually started to run, I have started to box. I’m actually achieving the impossible, it makes me feel so proud.

“My ambitions in the long-term future are I would like to go back to college and try to become a physiotherapist to deal with people that are suffering with similar things to me. I hope I would be able to give them some inspiration and be able to say ‘I understand your problems and struggles’.”

Helen says: “I remember during a break in one session where he was sat eating a sandwich all by himself. Just to see him sat in a chair eating on his own was amazing. It has definitely been an emotional rollercoaster but we have never given up. When he was in hospital it was very frightening not knowing what was going to happen. His progress has been amazing.”

Sarah Daniel Director of  Motionrehab in their new robotic suite in HullSarah Daniel Director of  Motionrehab in their new robotic suite in Hull
Sarah Daniel Director of Motionrehab in their new robotic suite in Hull

MOTIONrehab opened a second regional facility in Hull at the start of this year and Sarah Daniel says that the company is receiving an increase in NHS referrals as the effectiveness of its services – based on a principle of “practice, practice, practice” as a way of restoring movement – become more recognised.

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“Marlon was invested in a long-term programme but he had an awfully long way to come, he was starting from the very bottom,” she says. “Most of our patients don’t have to be with us as long.

“Marlon put so much effort into his rehab and there has to be real credit for his family. They drove two hours each way for the appointments which is a phenomenal commitment. Marlon credits a lot to the team but it was his and his family’s dedication and their belief in him.

“What has been really exciting for us is Marlon’s case isn’t unique. What we can achieve with this approach and this technology has such major benefits to clients.”

She says she is thrilled at Marlon’s progress and that of other clients who have passed through the doors of her centres. “It becomes really emotional. You can’t do this job without having a passion for it. To set up these two facilities has been a big personal sacrifice for me. I get really choked up because it does what I wanted it to for people. It is the most rewarding job.”

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As for Marlon, his ambitions for the future do not only extend to a possible new career. “I used to be really good at dancing on nights out,” he says. “One of my goals is to be able to get myself moonwalking again.”

Lockdown proved challenging for patients

Sarah Daniel says the Covid pandemic has proved a challenging time for her patients.

“The first lockdown was extremely difficult for both patients and staff. We had to close and did so before the official lockdown started. Our client base are more vulnerable and we accepted that people would stop coming but people still wanted to come because their rehabilitation is so important.”

The Leeds centre reopened in June with Covid-safe measures and has remained open during the subsequent lockdowns due to providing an essential service.

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The new facility in Hull, which opened just before the latest lockdown, includes a walking robotic trainer called the Lexo. Sarah says having such a device in an outpatient clinic is a world first.

Rehabilitation packages covering 80 hours cost £6,400 but Sarah says clients have been successful in obtaining NHS funding to support their attendance.

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