‘Small but precious breakthrough’ for paralysed Hong Kong dancer Mo Li

A Hong Kong dancer paralysed in an accident 3½ years ago during a concert by popular boy band Mirror has had a breakthrough in his rehabilitation, regaining some mobility in his right arm and sensation when answering the call of nature, with the help of technology and his religious beliefs, his father has said.The update on Mo Li Ka-yin’s condition on Saturday followed an earlier social media post showing him holding a stick upright and moving it around, which the dancer said would help strengthen some of the muscles required for using an electric wheelchair.“It has been over 3½ years. Throughout this long journey, Mo’s body has been like a computer that suddenly shut down – severed nerves cut off all connections. When the system finally rebooted, the old settings had completely vanished,” his father, Reverend Derek Li Shing-lam, said in a prayer letter posted on social media.“However, we have recently witnessed a small but precious breakthrough: he has begun to slowly differentiate the sensation of his bladder and bowel movements.”He added that the breakthrough was still far from that of a normal person; it was the result of constant neural pairing and training.It was the 176th such prayer letter since Mo Li was crushed by a falling four-by-four-metre screen in July 2022. The 500kg (1,102lbs) LED panel fell from the ceiling of the Hong Kong Coliseum during a Mirror concert, leaving the dancer at risk of permanent paralysis.