Meet a Pioneer in Stroke Recovery

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

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

“I woke up to use the bathroom and could not get out of bed,” he told correspondent Susan Spencer. ‘I had to grab something to get out of bed. Then I got my two feet on the floor and I just walked a few feet and I fell down. ‘

Holly recalls, “I went down the hall, past his bedroom, found him on the floor, but he said he could not get up.”

“It must have been scary,” Spencer said.

“Yes,” Aaron replied.

When he was just 39 years old, Aaron had a stroke and paralyzed his left side. “He was trying to talk to me,” Holly said. But his words were all gurgling. And I was terrified that he would never speak again. ‘

After four days in the ICU, he regained his speech, but not much else. He then spent two months in rehab. “We told one neurologist that Aaron would never move his arm again. And when we got to the parking lot, I literally put his face in my hands, and I said, ‘Don’t even buy it.'”

According to dr. Diana Tzeng, a professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, says a stroke “occurs when there is any problem with blood flow to the brain. The more common type is caused by a kind of blockage of an artery. “

Spencer asked, “In general, people assume that strokes only occur in older people. Is that so?”

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

Surprisingly, one American has a stroke every 40 seconds, and 10 to 15 percent of stroke victims are just 18 to 49 years old. Why this happens. “About 50% of the time, when a young person has a stroke, we can’t figure out the cause,” Tzeng said.

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

Tzeng said: “There is no revival of brain cells. Once you have had a stroke, the affected brain cells are dead. For some patients we offer intensive physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, but in terms of direct interventions we to patients, but still nothing to help them regain what they lost. ‘

But Aaron is determined to recover what is lost, so he mastered a tricycle when he could not ride a regular bicycle … and why he said yes to being a patient in a revolutionary study at Thomas Jefferson University.

His mother was not so sure. When asked about her response to the question, “We’re going to put electrodes in your son’s brain,” she replies, “Honestly, I was terrified. But I also knew it was Aaron’s decision. ‘

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

So, in October last year, with cameras turning, doctors implanted several electrodes into Aaron’s brain. It took nine hours.

Jefferson Health Neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Rosenwasser, one of the two chief doctors of the study, said: “We practiced it hundreds of times before the operation to know how we were going to do it, to know exactly where we were going to place it.”

Dr. Thomas Jefferson University Professor of Neurology Mijail Serruya, the other chief physician, described the electrode implanted: “The electrodes from this study are incredibly small, about the size of a baby aspirin or a regular M&M, so smaller than a peanut M&M. And they just go into the surface of the cortex, the outside of the brain. ‘

The role of the electrode, Rosenwasser said, “is to pick up the electrical signals from his existing brain cells, pick up 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 and send signals from its brain to a motorized prop. And viola! Aaron can move his arm again!

“He showed us that someone, who is now almost two years after a fairly severe stroke, can restore function,” Serruya said.

And this is just the beginning.

Spencer asked: ‘There are so many things we do that we just take for granted, for example picking up a cup, or he said he has trouble zipping something because he can not use the hand. How far do you think it could be? technology can go in terms of people regaining fine motor skills? ‘

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

Aaron’s electrodes were tested for only three months. But doctors see the day when – like a pacemaker – this technology will be wireless and implantable, eliminating the armrest completely.

Serruya said: “I think the goal is 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, get this device, and no matter how far they have come in their physical and occupational therapy, they can break through the plateau and keep going and recover the movement. ‘

Spencer asked Aaron, “Do your doctors think it might be a game changer?”

“Yes. It will help other stroke victims, and they can look after me well,” he replies. “Yes. They call me the pioneer.”

“Yes. Do you like it?”

“Yes!” he smiled.

For more information:

Story produced by Amiel Weisfogel. Editor: Carol Ross.