A York County soldier left partially paralyzed when he was shot in Afghanistan nearly two years ago is banking on stem cells to help him regain movement.

Matthew Hanes, 22, of Manchester Township, Pennsylvania is heading to China this month (April 2014) to undergo surgery to repair part of his damaged spinal cord.

Doctors essentially will use minor surgery and stem cell therapy to build a bridge over two vertebrae that were shattered when Hanes was shot.

“At the minimum I’ll get at least some feeling back where I don’t have it in certain places, but I could get everything back if it goes well,” Hanes said.

U.S. Army Cpl. Hanes was shot while on patrol in Afghanistan in June 2012. He was left with limited use of his upper body and no use of his lower extremities.

The procedure: According to the hospital’s website, it treated 1,757 patients with spinal cord injuries from 2005 to 2013. Of those, 90 percent showed improvement and 80 percent showed significant improvement.

Hanes said he’s hopeful to be in the latter category, but said he knows results vary depending how each body receives the stem cells. He could go back for additional treatments.

“They’ll build what they call a nerve graft to build an artificial spinal cord in the section that got severed in the injury,” Hanes said.

Watch the video below where Hanes talks about his up and coming trip to China for stem cell treatment.

Source: Source: York Dispatch