环球英语 — 118：Miracle Boy

　　Voice 1

Hello. I’m Rachel Hobson.

Voice 2

And I’m Marina Santee. Welcome to Spotlight 1. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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“I was going across the street. I thought I could beat the car. But I was wrong.”

Voice 1

Ricky Barker was thirteen [13] years old. He was riding home on his two-wheel bicycle. He saw a car coming. He believed he could cross the street before the car did. He was wrong.

Voice 1

The car was travelling at eighty kilometres per hour. It hit Ricky. And it threw him nine meters in the air. He landed head first. His head and neck hit the side of the road. The bone at the base of his head became separated from the bone at the top of his back. His head remained in the correct position - but it was only skin and muscles that held it there. Ricky lay on the ground. But no one moved him or touched him. This was very important. Moving an injured person can cause great damage. Only trained medical workers should move an injured person. Ricky said:

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“If someone had moved me or touched me in some way, then I may not be talking to you right now. I may be dead”.

Voice 1

An ambulance arrived to take Ricky to hospital. The medical workers tried hard to save him. He was seriously injured. He needed machines to help him breathe. He could not talk. And he could not move his body. In fact, Ricky went into a deep sleep - a coma 2. At the hospital the doctors did not know if they could save him. People with injuries like Ricky’s usually die.

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Kim Manwaring was Ricky’s main doctor. Dr. Manwaring is a brain surgeon. He was concerned. He did not know if an operation would help Ricky. Tests showed that the coma was not Ricky’s only problem. Even if he awoke, he would have no movement or feeling from the neck down - he was paralyzed 3. The doctor feared he would remain that way forever. But then he saw something that gave him hope. Ricky was still in a coma. But Dr. Manwaring saw a small movement in Ricky’s arm. He knew that this meant the brain and spinal 4 cord 5 still had some connection. An operation could possibly help. Dr Manwaring and his team decided 6 to operate.

The doctors connected Ricky’s skull 7 to his backbone 8. They used long rods 9 made of titanium metal, fixed 10 to the bones with titanium bolts 11. The rods bridged the break at the top of Ricky’s backbone. The operation went well. Thirty-six [36] hours after the operation Ricky surprised the doctors. He began to move his right leg. Ten days later he moved his left leg. And to communicate he would open and close his eyes. Soon after that he started writing. And finally he started speaking.

The doctors told Ricky he had survived an extremely serious injury to his head - internal 12 decapitation. Ricky said:

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“The doctors started to explain things to me. But I had no idea what they were talking about. And then I understood. Decapitated is head cut off. Internal is inside. So head cut off in my body. OK.”

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Usually when people suffer an internal decapitation they die. But Ricky survived. And he wanted to continue with his normal life. His dream was to go to his middle-school graduation. Graduations are important events. Students receive official papers for their studies. The next year he would enter high school. So he wanted to be at his graduation ceremony. Dr. Manwaring said:

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“From the first minute Ricky talked, he said, ‘Please help me get to my graduation.’”

Voice 1

But this was not going to be easy. He had only six weeks! He could not do it on his own. The day of Ricky’s graduation came. He was still in a wheel-chair. But the medical workers from the ambulance came to help him. They drove him to his graduation ceremony in an ambulance. It was a time that no one will forget - Ricky graduating from school with his friends! But after the ceremony he had to go back to hospital. He needed to recover completely. Ricky still did not know if he would ever walk again. He was not going to give up! He made up his mind - he would walk again!

Ricky spent three months in hospital. During this time he became stronger. On the day he left the hospital, he got up from his wheelchair. And he walked without much help at all. The doctors and hospital workers were so happy.

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Dr. Manwaring was especially happy. It was his technology that helped save Ricky’s life. Manwaring is not only a doctor. He is also an inventor. He built a laboratory 13 in his house. Here he invents medical tools. He has invented five important tools. One of these tools helped to save Ricky’s life. This tool is called the microneedle. It is long and thin. But the end of it is the size of one molecule 14. This small tool is very exact. It causes less bleeding and damage than a bigger tool.

This microneedle uses electric charges to cut through body skin, tissue 15 and muscle. It is also perfect for cutting around nerves 16. Doctors used this needle on Ricky. So Ricky did not bleed very much - and his body healed 17 faster. Ricky got better much quicker because of Dr. Manwaring’s microneedle.

Voice 1

A year later Ricky was still healing 18. By then he was in high school. He still could not move his left arm. At night he needed a machine to help him breathe. But he was able to climb steps and to run. Many people called Ricky the ‘Miracle Boy’. Ricky was very thankful for his life. A television reporter asked Ricky what he learned 19 about life from his experience. He told her:

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“I learned that you only have one life. And that there is a God.”

“I am here. I am alive. I am happy with that.”

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Ricky’s thankfulness has helped him to be happy. He refused to let his accident stop him from living a normal life. In fact Ricky wants to work with other people that have injuries to their backbones 20. He wants to offer encouragement. He said:

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“I would say to others do not give up. Continue. Take times of sadness and anger, and turn them into willpower to continue”.