Paralyzed teen buys his own exoskeleton


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SALT LAKE CITY — With the push of a button, Kollin Galland stands up. Then with another command through his wrist remote, he walks. That's quite an improvement compared with where he was two and a half years ago. Though a tragic accident on a trampoline left him paralyzed, a bed or even a wheelchair was not going to hold him down.

Kollin is now walking with the help of a metal framework exoskeleton. But even more, this one is his very own. In fact, he's the youngest in the world to buy the device and take it home. The state-of-the-art robotics unit is normally reserved for use in rehabilitation centers. But the Food and Drug Administration recently decided to allow patients to buy the system.

For Kollin, even rising up and standing means a lot.

"Just hanging out with my friends at home, standing up again, and being eye level with them ... I'm just grateful there's even something out there like this that I have the opportunity to use, and then actually get for my own," Kollin said.

Indoors or outdoors, the exoskeleton gives Kollin all kinds of freedom. He can go shopping, walk with his friends, sit and stand, and, with some new software expected to be ready later this year, he'll be able to walk up and down stairs.

The system, called "ReWalk,” works off a tilt meter that is triggered by movement. Users must have strength in the arms and in their core muscles.

“When Kollin moves forward and his weight shifts appropriately, ReWalk then knows when to take a step,” said Kristen Black-Bain, a University of Utah doctor of physical therapy.

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The robot is mainly designed for paraplegics, not quadriplegics, but the Spinal Cord Team at the University of Utah decided to certify Kollin because of his determination and output during training.

“He was an athlete before the injury. He played a lot of sports then, and even now he plays wheelchair rugby,” said Black-Bain. “And with special equipment, he's skiing. Though a quadriplegic, he's young and has a strong upper body."

Black-Bain said she believes Kollin is simply in tune with his body.

Getting a ReWalk of your own is not easy. Personal units cost about $65,000. Plus, users must be certified.

“They have to be able to take the device out in the community and move around and cross streets,” said Black-Bain. “They have to be comfortable enough to walk and talk, which is difficult for some people."

Kollin had to learn how it works, how to put it on and take it off, and how to recover if he falls.

Since someone has to be with him at all times when he's walking, Mom and Dad had to certify too. Is it worth it?

What is...
... a ReWalk?
A robotic exoskeleton that is the most widely used, most studied and first available for personal ownership. The powered hip and knee motion enables those with lower limb disabilities, including paraplegia as a result of spinal cord injury, to perform self-initiated standing, walking and turning.

"Absolutely," Jodie Galland said. "It's just unbelievable to see my son upright, to see his legs moving, to see a smile on his face. That's a great feeling for a parent to have."

Gary Galland echoes those feelings. "We've been fortunate that our son Kollin never gives up. He's never had a depressed day where he feels, 'This is awful and terrible and not worth it.' Just the weight-bearing on his legs and the walking is a health benefit that will pay off."

Though the unit was expensive, the extended Galland family divided up the cost and chipped in to help Kollin buy the exoskeleton.

Like many who are paralyzed, this 15-year-old teenager has a dream. He hopes that perhaps through retraining reflexes researchers now know are built into leg muscles, he might somewhere down the road walk on his own.

But for now, letting his own exoskeleton — nicknamed “Steve” — do it for him is a bit of real sci-fi he never envisioned. "I don't know how to explain it. It's just awesome," Kollin said.

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