Lech Walesa's son on mend from near-fatal crash

(WARSAW) - Jaroslaw Walesa, the son of Poland's freedom icon Lech Walesa, said Thursday he was able to walk and would soon be leaving hospital where he has been recovering from a near-fatal motorcycle crash since September.

"Eleven weeks ago, the grim reaper was knocking at my door. Thank God, I managed to get away. It was a miracle," the soft-spoken 34-year-old member of the European Parliament told journalists in Warsaw as he sat in a wheel chair.

"I already walked. I may be able to walk without crutches in about a month. Perhaps next year I'll be able to run in a marathon," he added, stressing he still had months of physiotherapy ahead.

On September 2, Walesa's motorcycle side-swiped a car on a highway 125 kilometres (77.6 miles) north of Warsaw before spinning out of control and crashing. He was hospitalised in a critical condition with over 50 fractures.

A member of Poland's governing centrist Civic Platform, Walesa was elected to the Polish parliament in 2005 and re-elected in 2007. He won a seat in the European Parliament in 2009.

He is one of eight children of Polish Nobel Peace laureate and democracy icon Lech Walesa, leader of Poland's freedom fighting Solidarity trade union which negotiated a bloodless end to communism in the country in 1989.