It is part of the central nervous system, together with the brain the most important part of the body, which cannot be corrected by any surgery or medication in Kubik’s case. The damaged spinal cord doesn’t just result in loss of mobility in the limbs, as it might seem at first glance. Damage to the spinal cord in this part of the neck also affects basic life functions such as breathing, excretion, digestion or even thermoregulation and appetite. Because of the progressive swelling of his spinal cord, Kubíček had to be put into artificial sleep for a few hours after the accident, as his breathing deteriorated, and he was put on a lung ventilator.

About three weeks after the accident, he suffered a spontaneous pneumothorax which caused cardiac arrest and doctors had to resuscitate him. Fortunately, it didn’t leave any lasting effects on his brain, and that day Jakoubek was born for the second time. In just three months in hospitals, Kubík had been through a lot – he got blood poisoning, had high fevers for over a month, overcame golden staph and had all the places on his body cut open because of the infusions.

This was caused by an accident when a garden machine tipped over on Kubik while he was running around in the garden. Within seconds, disaster struck. Although Jakoubek had nothing broken and was not bleeding anywhere, after an MRI scan in the hospital, doctors found one of the worst diagnoses – spinal cord damage in the neck area.