BlogsCrash Miraculously Heals Paralyzed Athlete

Forget everything you know about modern science (which, understandably, might not be much anyway).

Paralympic Dutch cyclist Monique van der Vorst confounded doctors when a crash miraculously un-paralyzed her. The 27-year-old suffered paralysis from the waist down when she was 13 following leg surgery that left her with nerve damage. A subsequent car accident exacerbated her condition when it damaged her spine. She went on to become a successful paralympian, winning two silver medals in hand-cycling in 2008.

But in 2009, while training for the 2012 Paralympics, another cyclist crashed into her. While recovering in the hospital, she felt a tingling in her legs, eventually regaining full sensation and finally taking her first steps in July 2010. Now, almost two years later, not only has she made a full recovery, she's joined a cycling team and plans to compete in the Olympics.

It's a phenomenon that no doctors have been able to explain or have ever seen before. People who are paralyzed but still have some sensation actually have a 90 percent chance of recovering mobility and feeling in their legs. However, the chances are very slim for people who have lost all sensation.