"We need 100 more Dr Huangs," says Laura Jackson's father Daryl. "And we need more cells. It's a different government over here. They have to trim the population. There are 15 to 20 million abortions in China a year. If everyone who was aborted could save a life, there would be no sick people left in the world." Golden's Christian wife, Debbie, also sees Huang as an idealist - particularly in comparison to the US doctors who charged her husband almost $1m, but were able only to make him more comfortable in his wheelchair. "In the US it's totally about money, but China is more ethical," she says. "They work harder. I'm American, so that is very hard to say. "I don't agree with abortion, but it will happen anyway. In the US, we do abortions but don't use the cells. In China, they don't just take life and destroy it - they give something back. It's like lemonade out of lemons. You take something bad and you make it good." Such reasoning requires a moral somersault, but it is one that can be done easily in China. That is enough to generate hope. In the west, the debate about using cells from foetuses looks set to continue for decades. In China, it is a non-issue. As a result, people who are maimed or dying no longer have to wait for the politicians and the scientists to scrutinise the ethnical and medical risks. There is a choice. It is an uncertain one. The long-term impact of the surgery remains unknown, but that does not bother patients who would otherwise have only a few years to live, nor does it bother those like Golden who are willing to try anything to get out of a wheelchair. "People like me and the others in this hospital are willing to risk everything, even our lives. I'll be a guinea pig. Some hope is better than none." Four days after his operation, Golden and a couple of other patients visit the Great Wall of China, conveyed there by bus and then wheelchair. The sight of the world's biggest and oldest barrier appears to inspire rather than daunt the Texan, who now believes in the miracles of a Chinese doctor. "I want to come back here next year and walk the wall for myself," he says. ? Guardianfilms' exclusive TV report on Huang's work goes out on Newsnight tonight on BBC2 at 10.30pm. For a short trailer, go to guardian.co.uk/guardianfilms/china