> Delivered without sugar-coating and designed to manage expectations, the prognosis from doctors wasn’t good. The aim of surgery was to straighten Takeuchi’s spine and fix his posture, not to enable him to walk again. If during the procedure the doctors saw additional work that could be done, they would do it, but he shouldn’t allow himself to think that he would wake up and be walking.

Wow. We are a community of people who enjoy the ability to dream and ask, "what if?" It's very difficult to turn that off and accept that the impossible is, in fact, impossible. That kind of realization can be, and almost would certainly be to me, defeating.

Not for Hiroki - this guy is just wired differently.

I wish him the best.