Ceylan, told she would never walk after falling from sixth floor, gets back on her feet

Ceylan Ağaç was told she might never walk again after a fall from a sixth-floor window. About three months into an intensive rehabilitation program, the 18-year-old university student has stood up and begun walking.

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The doctors said I would not be able to walk, that I was paralyzed, and that there was a 1% chance.

Ağaç, a second-year business student at Bursa Uludağ University, had gone to Kars to visit her family on May 21. She said a migraine attack made her dizzy. After opening a window, she looked down and fell. The fall caused two spinal fractures, and doctors at Kars Harakani State Hospital operated on her.

Doctors later told her that spinal cord damage meant she would be unable to walk. In June, she was transferred to Ankara Etlik City Hospital’s Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Hospital, where she entered the spinal cord injury clinic. Her program combined a robotic walking system, a reduced-gravity treadmill, water exercises and individual therapy with a physiotherapist.

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I did not believe I would be unable to walk.

She began treatment without movement in her legs. Progress came gradually: first sitting up in bed, then sitting in a chair, and later walking with support. She said doctors and therapists encouraged her to keep trying, while exercises strengthened her muscles and worked on balance.

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It is such a beautiful feeling that it cannot be described.

Ağaç said she had not believed she would remain unable to walk. She described the process as slow but said she had turned what doctors called a 1% chance into 99%. Her treatment continues, and she said she intends to complete the remaining step.

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I have turned that 1% into 99%.