A dancer paralysed after he was hit by a massive LED screen at a Hong Kong concert by boy band Mirror two years ago has started therapy to regain movement and learn to use his limbs again after successful two-stage surgery on his spine.
The father of 29-year-old Mo Li Kai-yin, the Reverend Derek Li Shing-lam, said at the weekend that the operations appeared to have gone well.
“There were no initial side effects or adverse reactions after the two-stage surgery, Reverend Li wrote on Facebook.
He added the family were now starting a “marathon” of physiotherapy exercises to help his son regain movement, beginning with gross motor skills – those that require the use of large muscles for activities such as walking and sitting up unaided.
Reverend Li said the process was similar to “learning to reorganise each frame in a slow-motion video” so that signals received by the nerves could be adjusted to make “the most correct and precise movements”.
“Over the past two years, Mo has been unable to perform such movements,” he added.
“Now it’s like he is learning to function again, just like a newborn baby learning how to take control of his hands and feet.”
Reverend Li said the incision from the latest surgery was infection-free, which allowed the family to focus on the dancer’s physical rehabilitation.
“Having the opportunity to regain movement after it was lost for two years … the joy is indescribable,” he added, fighting back tears.
“I would like to thank my relatives, medical staff, church, and caring people from all walks of life who have walked with us for the past 102 weeks.”
But the reverend admitted it was tough to see his son’s spine “covered in surgical scars” and he praised Mo Li for “overcoming his many difficulties during the arduous rehabilitation process through gritted teeth”.
Reverend Li appealed for more prayers to support his son’s battle.
Mo Li suffered severe spinal injuries after a four-by-four-metre (13-by-13-foot) screen suspended over the stage fell and struck him and fellow performer Chang Tsz-fung during a concert by the popular Cantopop band at the Hong Kong Coliseum in July 2022.
The incident left the dancer at risk of becoming a permanent quadriplegic, paralysed from the neck down.
The Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company, which was in charge of mechanical engineering maintenance at the concert, was fined HK$420,000 (US$53,685) in court after it pleaded guilty to six charges, including failure to ensure the safety of its employees, failure to ensure the installed equipment was safe and failure to notify authorities of an accident.
Two other businesses linked to the incident, Engineering Impact and the Studiodanz Company, were also fined a total of HK$352,000 in November last year.
