Robotic suit helps mother take first steps to a new life...
Anne Marie had a spinal stroke ‘It would give me more indpendence’
A NURSE left paralysed by spinal stroke has taken her first steps again thanks to a futuristic robotic suit.
Anne Marie Leonard, 43, from Ballybay in Monaghan, had just flown home from Perth, Australia where she had emigrated, for a surprise visit when she suffered a debilitating spinal stroke.
The former operating theatre nurse, had flown home with her son, Tom, three, to surprise her mother for her 70th birthday,
Speaking of her terrifying ordeal in August 2015, Anne Marie said that after an idyllic few days at home, she woke in the night, first with back pain and then unable to move her legs.
She said: ‘The pain was really bad, but I didn’t think it was anything untoward.
‘Then, when I woke up again and my right leg gave way, I knew it was really serious.’
Rushed to A&E at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, in Dublin, Anne Marie continued to lose feeling in her body from below her chest.
After a series of tests and an MRI scan, doctors told her she had suffered a spinal stroke, where one of the arteries in her spine had been blocked.
She said: ‘As I had been on a long-haul flight, they were thinking it was deep vein thrombosis, but after all the tests, there was no evidence of anything like that.
‘They couldn’t pinpoint anything and, because the artery is so tiny, there is nothing you can do to explore it. It was one of those unexplained events.’
Still in Australia, her husband Mark, 43, a civil engineer, swiftly organised a flight to Ireland, so he could support her and look after their son. Anne Marie was told the true extent of the damage to her spine would not be known until it came out of shock three months later, when there was a chance it could recover.
Admitted to Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital, to be monitored and begin her recovery, sadly, after three months, it became clear the damage was permanent, as Anne Marie did not regain any feeling.
She said: ‘I have a very slight sensation on my left leg, but it’s not even enough to feel hot and cold.
‘I had to come to terms with the idea of being in a wheelchair and we knew that we wouldn’t be able to go back to Australia, where we had started a new life after the financial crash. Mark had to go back and pack up our entire lives, so we could move to Ireland.’
After three months, Anne Marie
Support: Anne Marie with husband Mark was transferred to the National Carrickmacross, with her family. Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Then, determined to find a way Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, where she to help his wife, Mark discovered began a programme of physio and the ReWalk – a wearable robotic therapy. exoskeleton, providing powered
Following three months as an hip and knee motion, enabling inpatient, she was well enough to people with spinal cord injuries to be discharged – moving to an stand upright, walk, turn and go accessible rented property in up and down stairs. Anne Marie said: ‘Being able to take my first steps in this suit was such an incredible experience and it has absolutely changed my life.
‘When we saw it, we knew I had to try it. The idea of being able to go outside and play with Tom sounded amazing. It would give me so much more independence around the house as well.’
But, while she was given the chance to try one in 2017 – an experience she described as ‘fantastic’ – Mark and Anne Marie still had to raise over €70,000 to buy one.
Fortunately, moved by her story, people in her local community joined forces to help, holding quiz nights, bake sales, sponsored walks and a grand finale – a fundraising night at a local hotel – which involved Anne Marie wearing the suit and walking with Mark on the dance floor.
‘We even held a competition to name my ReWalk, which the first device in use in the Republic of Ireland,’ laughed Anne Marie. ‘We ended up calling it Percy, short for Perseverance.
‘It is such a fantastic thing and I am getting more and more used to it. At the minute, my husband is the only one trained to walk with me in it, as you need someone with you when you first start using it, but we are hoping more members of my family and friends will get trained up so I can use it as much as possible.’
For now, Anne Marie can only use the suit for 40-minute stints, as her core muscles are still quite weak, but this should improve with time.
She continued: ‘It’s incredible the difference it makes – just being able to climb stairs and take steps. Things like kitchen surfaces are not right the height for my wheelchair, so this makes such a difference.’
For more information about Anne Marie’s journey, follow https://www.facebook.com/theannemarieleonardtrust/