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進入《中英對照讀新聞》 Man spends 43 years in wheelchair on wrong diagnosis 男子因誤診而度過43年輪椅歲月
◎魏國金
A Portuguese man spent 43 years in a wheelchair because of a mistaken medical diagnosis, finally re-learning to walk only in his fifties.
一名葡萄牙男子因誤診，度過43年的輪椅歲月，最後在50幾歲時重新學習走路。
When Rufino Borrego was 13, he was diagnosed by a Lisbon hospital as having incurable muscular dystrophy, the Jornal de Noticias reported on Sunday.
波瑞戈13歲時，被里斯本一家醫院診斷出罹患無法治癒的肌肉萎縮症，「新聞報」週日報導。
After that he used a wheelchair to get around for more than four decades － until a neurologist realised in 2010 that he in fact suffered from a different disease that weakens the muscles, myasthenia.
此後，他以輪椅代步逾40年，直到一名神經學家在2010年了解他事實上罹患的是不同疾病——使肌肉衰弱的「肌無力症」。
The rare disease can be treated simply by taking asthma medication － and just a year after his new diagnosis, Borrego was able to walk for the first time to his usual neighbourhood cafe.
這種罕見疾病只需以氣喘用藥即可治療——而在重新診斷後不過1年光景，波瑞戈即首度能步行至他平常光顧的街坊咖啡館。
"We thought it was a miracle," Manuel Melao, owner of the cafe in Alandroal, southeast Portugal, told the newspaper.
「我們認為這是奇蹟，」葡萄牙東南部阿蘭卓爾的咖啡館老闆梅朗告訴該報說。
Now aged 61, Borrego is able to live a normal life, requiring only two physiotherapy sessions a year.
61歲的波瑞戈能過正常生活，1年也只需接受2次物理治療。
He insists he harbours no ill-feelings against the hospital that made the original diagnosis, acknowledging that myasthenia was almost unknown in the medical profession in the 1960s. "I just want to make use of my life," he said.
他堅稱，他不怪做出原診斷的醫院，他承認在1960年代，醫學界對肌無力症幾乎一無所知。「我只想善用我的生命，」他說。
新聞辭典
harbour：心懷、懷藏。例句：She has been harbouring hostility toward me.（她一直對我懷有敵意。）
ill-feelings：敵意、猜忌、不信任。例句：The dinner broke up in an atmosphere of sullen ill-feelings.（晚宴在相互猜忌的沉悶氣氛中不歡而散。）
make use of：使用、利用。例句：He made good use of his spare time.（他善用他的閒暇時間。）
