Children paralysed by a rare polio-like illness which has spiked in the UK and US could have their lives transformed by pioneering surgery.
A nerve transfer could restore movement and feeling to parts of the body damaged by the poorly-understood condition, scientists have found.
Acute flaccid myelitis, believed to be triggered by a virus, affected nine years' worth of patients in the UK in 2018 and more than 160 people in the US - mostly children.
The mysterious illness cannot be cured or prevented and strikes suddenly, causing serious nerve damage before doctors can properly diagnose it.
But those left with disability could have a ray of hope in the new procedure which swaps nerves from unaffected muscles to restore movement.
Dr Scott Wolfe, at the Hospital for Special Surgery, has successfully used nerve grafting surgery to repair the muscles of children and young people (pictured, Kale Hyden) who have become paralysed by acute flaccid myelitis/paralysis
A surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, Dr Scott Wolfe, has already had success with the nerve transfer in AFM patients.
One 15-year-old patient left paralysed from the neck down by AFM had the movement in his hands and arms restored by the operation.
Kale Hyder, a 6ft 2in (187cm) basketball player from Davenport, Iowa, was left confined to a wheelchair after being suddenly struck by AFM in 2015.
He woke up one day with a stiff neck so asked his mother for a new pillow but, by the next day, he was unable to move his arms and could barely stand up.
After being rushed to hospital, Kale soon became completely paralysed and was told he would never regain the use of his hands.
'I'll never forget receiving that news,' said Marcy Hyder, Kale's mother.
'Here's my basketball player, sitting next to me in a wheelchair. Everything changed in the blink of an eye. When we got out of there, we all just sobbed.'
Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), of which acute flaccid paralysis is believed to be an effect, is a rare and poorly-understood but serious condition.
The condition is thought to be caused by viruses such as enteroviruses which infect the brain or spinal cord and cause nerve damage.
Viruses believed to trigger the condition usually only cause mild flu-like symptoms but can trigger the more serious AFM.
Symptoms include facial droop/weakness, difficulty moving the eyes, drooping eyelids, or difficulty with swallowing or slurred speech.
Patients may also have cold-like symptoms or a fever.
Because its causes are unclear there is no standard treatment for AFM and therapy is usually given on a case-by-case basis.
There are usually only a 'handful' of cases in England each year, while the US tends to go through a two-yearly cycle in which there will be a year with only two dozen or so cases then the next year will be over 100.
The virus Enterovirus D68 is believed to be linked to the infection and has been found in patients in both the US and UK.
But thanks to the ambitious surgery by Dr Wolfe, Kale can now use his hands and arms again and is studying to be a neurologist at Johns
