Meet a pioneer in stroke recovery

Retired teacher Holly Ulland and her son Aaron have always been exceptionally close. She described her son as “very compassionate, loves animals, has always been a tinker”.

Young and capable, Aaron looked perfectly healthy, until one morning in January 2019.

“I woke up to use the bathroom and I couldn’t get out of bed,” he told correspondent Susan Spencer. “I had to get something to get out of my bed. And then I put my two feet on the floor, walked just inches and fell.”

Holly recalled, “I went down the hall, passed his room and found him on the floor, but he said he couldn’t get up.”

“That must have been scary,” said Spencer.

“Yes,” Aaron replied.

At just 39 years old, Aaron suffered a stroke, paralyzing his left side. “He tried to talk to me,” said Holly. “But his words were gargled. And I was afraid that he would never speak again.”

After four days in the ICU, he recovered his speech, but not much more. He then spent two months in rehab. “We had a neurologist who told us that Aaron would never move his arm again. And when we entered the parking lot, I literally put his face in my hands and said, ‘Don’t believe this’.”

According to Dr. Diana Tzeng, professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, a stroke occurs “whenever there is a problem with blood flow to the brain. The most common type is caused by some type of blockage of a artery”.

Spencer asked, “In general, people assume that strokes happen only in older people. Is that the case?”

“Anyone can have a stroke, even young people,” said Tzeng. “And there is a worrying trend that more young adults are suffering from strokes.”

Surprisingly, an American had a stroke every 40 seconds, and 10 to 15 percent of stroke victims are just 18 to 49 years old. Why does it happen. “About 50% of the time, when a young person suffers a stroke, we cannot find the cause,” said Tzeng.

The cause of Aaron Ulland’s stroke is still a mystery, but the consequences are devastatingly clear.

Tzeng said: “There is no regeneration of brain cells. After a stroke, the affected brain cells die. For some patients, we offer intensive physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, but in terms of direct treatment interventions that we can provide to patients, still none to help them recover what they lost. “

But Aaron is determined to make up for what was lost, which is why he mastered a three-wheeled vehicle when he couldn’t ride a normal bicycle … and why he said yes to being Patient One in a revolutionary study at the University Thomas Jefferson.

His mother was not so sure. When asked about her reaction to hearing “Let’s put electrodes on your son’s brain”, she replied, “Honestly, I was terrified. But I also knew it was Aaron’s decision.”

And he didn’t hesitate? “No,” said Holly. “He kept saying, ‘I want my arm back’.”

Then, last October, with the cameras moving, doctors implanted several electrodes in Aaron’s brain. It took nine hours.

Jefferson Health neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Rosenwasser, one of the study’s two leading doctors, said: “We rehearsed this hundreds of times before surgery to see how we would do it, to know precisely where we would place it.”

Professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University, Dr. Mijail Serruya, the other primary physician, described the electrodes that were implanted: “The electrodes in this study are incredibly small, about the size of infant aspirin or normal M&M, so much smaller than a peanut M&M. And they just go to the surface of the cortex, outside the brain. “

The role of the electrodes, said Rosenwasser, “is to record the electrical signals from your existing brain cells, take those electrical signals and convert them into the movement he wants to do: move his fingers, move his hand, move his arm.”

In other words, Aaron’s stroke damaged the connection between his brain and his arm. These electrodes repair it, sending signals from your brain to a motorized belt. AND viola! Aaron can move his arm again!

“He showed us that someone, almost two years after a very significant stroke, can recover his function,” said Serruya.

And it is only the beginning.

Spencer asked, “There are so many things we do that we just don’t value, for example, picking up a glass or he said he has trouble closing anything because he can’t use that hand. As far as you think this technology can mean people really regain fine motor skills? “

“Well, I’m not sure if I’ll be on Earth to see this, but I think we’ll have people playing the piano and concert violinists,” said Rosenwasser.

Aaron’s electrodes were put to a test for just three months. But doctors will see the day when – as a pacemaker – this technology will be wireless and implantable, completely eliminating the cuff.

Serruya said: “I think this is the goal, that in the next five, 10, 15, 20 years, we will have a medical device that will be available to people who have had a stroke, so that they can go to their doctor, their neurosurgery team , obtain this device and, however far they have gone in their physical and occupational therapy, they can break through that plateau and continue and restore movement. “

Spencer asked Aaron, “Do your doctors think this is potentially a game changer?”

“Yes. It will help other stroke victims, and they can look at my stuff,” he replied. “Yes. They call me a pioneer.”

“Yes. Do you like it?”

“Yes!” He smiled.

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Story produced by Amiel Weisfogel. Editor: Carol Ross.