The Times Magazine 9SPINAL COLUMN
MELANIE REID
landmark arrived – the
final assessments of the
research trial. Like a
student reaching her
last exams, I felt demob
happy. I drove into the
city with a feeling of
lightness, aware that
a long but significant
six months is coming to an end, that soon
I would get my life back.
And getting it back enhanced in many
subtle ways. As anyone with a chronic condition
knows, miracles are for the fairies. In the real
world, you hope for an easing of discomfort
and a lessening of the struggle. Where I sit,
small things, almost intangible, are in their
own way a little bit life-changing. This is what
the Onward spinal research, using ARC
electrical stimulation to bridge the damage in
tetraplegics’ necks, has done for my body.- My hands look and feel different. After so
many hours of nonstop fingers Pilates, half
without the device, half with, they’ve improved
a great deal. Give me another two years of
training, I joked, they’d be cured. The fingers
have unfurled and can work a bit in isolation.
I can, for instance, murder a music keyboard
by hitting the notes one at a time with
different fingers, in quite rapid sequence.
My right hand can laboriously twirl a pen. - My left thumb has woken up. Drumroll! It
can reach across and touch the little finger.
It bends slightly; it circles away from the
forefinger; it has enough reach to scroll an
iPad. The next big challenge will be to make it
control a computer mouse. When I began the
trial, on my palm, where healthy people have a
big pad of thumb muscle, I had nothing – now
there’s the beginnings of something.- I no longer have to wheel my chair in circles
so my right arm and hand can do all the work
of daily life. My left hand has regained some
very feeble function. Six months ago it was
effectively a frozen shovel; now I can pick up
light things from the floor, or take a fork from
the cutlery drawer, or pick an apple from the
table. It takes far longer, yes, and requires
serious concentration, but I must persevere,
because the more I do, the better it will get.
4 An unintended side effect: I’m much slicker
and more confident driving. An old hand
loading myself, slotting in behind the wheel,
my little checklists lodged subconsciously, and
I drive much more smoothly, my hands softer
on the accelerator, my reactions sharpened,
my fear of commuter traffic banished. I am
nearly as relaxed as in a past life. - I’ve made new friends, heard new points
of view, experienced great kindness and care
from the therapy staff, sharpened my brain,
had some new ideas, felt my life broaden out
again. Being out in the world, huge effort
though it is, is good for you. - I do not wish to exaggerate. But I note
other tiny improvements: in my sleeping, in
temperature regulation, in less dramatic bouts
of low blood pressure when I eat. I feel a small
increase in sensation in my left fingertips;
I feel heat from the electric blanket on my feet.
In this week’s final monthly assessments,
done without stimulation, the improvements
were visible in the results. I can pick up dice
with my left forefinger and thumb, and turn a
tiddlywink over and over with my right thumb
and first two fingers. Things I couldn’t do
before. The number of seconds it takes me to
pour water into a glass has reduced. By the
roughest of guesses, I reckon an overall 20 per
cent improvement. It may be more. It’s been a
long haul.Two days after writing this, I will be going for
an optional assessment, this time wearing the
stimulator, to see what effect it has on my
performance. From experience, I bet it’s
noticeable.
How to separate the benefits of the therapy
from the stimulation is a complicated question.
But plainly the indicators are positive, because
Onward has just launched another experiment
implanting the technology, rather than using it
externally, into the necks and thoracic region
of people with high-level spinal breaks.
Hope is unquenchable, that’s the wonderful
thing. Things point upwards. And I’m off to
enjoy my sunlit uplands, which include the
exquisite luxury of waking up knowing I don’t
have to drag my old carcass anywhere, and
getting my eyes tested. n@Mel_ReidTimes
Melanie Reid is tetraplegic after breaking her
MURDO MACLEOD neck and back in a riding accident in April 2010
A
For the first time
since my accident
my left thumb
works. I can even
scroll an iPad