The father of Moses Li Kai-yin, the Canadian dancer left paralyzed after he was crushed by a video screen that fell to the stage during a concert last July, said this week his son suffers "unbearable" pain but is making small improvements.
Rev. Derek Li, a former senior pastor at Toronto’s Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church, said Kai-yin has been working on taking steps with the help of an exoskeleton device and is undergoing treatment to train the nerves of his limbs to receive signals.
But, he added, his son was experiencing trembling and constant sweating and suffering from inflammation of the urethra. Li said caregivers are struggling because tasks such as grooming, brushing teeth and dressing Kai-yin cause him pain.
The dancer, now 28, was on stage in Hong Kong with boy band MIRROR when he was struck by a 500-kilogram screen that crashed to the stage. He was rushed to hospital, where he underwent emergency surgeries for a cerebral hemorrhage and fractured cervical vertebrae.
He was later transferred to another hospital, where he remains paralyzed from the neck down.
In his weekly update, Li said Kai-yin’s life was “hanging by a thread” eight months ago but there is now “a thread of life.”
Moses Li Kai-yin was crushed when a video screen fell to the stage. Twitter
Last September, Li said doctors told him there is a 95 percent chance Kai-yin’s vertebrae and sensory nerves will never fully recover. He said every time he and his wife stand beside their son’s hospital bed, “the bitterness in our hearts is indescribable.”
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In an interview with Billboard to promote a new English-language single, members of MIRROR spoke about what happened on their stage.
“No one wanted it to happen, no one could foresee it happening, and no one could really understand why it even happened," said Edan Lui. "It was a really hard time for us, our dancers, and all Hong Kong citizens."
Stanley Yau added: “This accident taught me how to treasure everything: Our job, friends, and opportunities to perform on stage. It influenced us so much for sure. We had to deal with our emotions—mentally, emotionally—so, it’s sad for sure.”
He said the group is in contact with Kai-yin’s parents.