Heartwarming first message as man with locked in syndrome ‘speaks again’
A PARALYSED man has been able to communicate again thanks to modern technology - and his first messages are heartwarming.
The unnamed man has had “locked in syndrome” since 2019 - a rare neurological disorder whereby patients are conscious but cannot move or speak.
He is the first to be given a brain implant device that enables him to control a keyboard, and therefore give messages to his loved ones.
Researchers at the for Bio and Neuroengineering in Geneva, Switzerland, described how the German man got to grips with the system over two years and slowly learned to “speak” in sentences.
And astoundingly, one of the first things the 36-year-old asked for was a beer, which was pumped into his feeding tube.
He requested curry and Bolognese, all with the power of his mind, as well as a head massage from his mum, socks at night time, and for his head to be positioned up when visitors come.
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The rock music fan said: “I would like to listen to the album by Tool [a band] loud.”
The married man said, “I love my cool son”, and asked his four-year-old boy, “Do you want to watch Disney’s Robin Hood with me”.
On the 462nd day after being given the brain implant device, the man said: “My biggest wish is a new bed and that tomorrow I come with you for barbecue.”
The patient, who lives at home with his family, had two electrodes surgically implanted into his brain, which he consented to prior to losing all movement.
Over two months, experts told him to think about moving various parts of the body while they tracked his brain activity.
Then, they told the man to attach certain thoughts of movement to “yes” and “no” responses.
When he thinks about attempting a movement, the electrodes pick up these brain signals and send them to a machine.
A spelling programme was then implemented. It reads the letters of the alphabet aloud and the participant is able to choose “yes” or “no”, ultimately spelling out a sentence.
The case, reported in a scientific paper in , has given hope to other people with the same condition.
The man was diagnosed with a fast-progressing form of advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2015.
Globally, the number of people with ALS is increasing and more than 300,000 people are projected to be living with the disease by 2040.
There is no cure for the progressive neurodegenerative disease that robs people of the ability to talk, walk, eat, communicate - even with their eyes - or breathe.
It leads people to become “locked” in their own body.
Most people with ALS die from respiratory failure, usually within three to five years from when the symptoms first appear.
However, about 10 per cent of people with ALS survive for 10 or more years.
Stephen Hawking, the world renowned physicist, lived with ALS for 50 years after his diagnosis.
A Cambridge scientist built an incredible device which enabled him to control a computer screen using his cheek. The computer would then read out the message.
The German patient had been using his eyes as a means of communication. But in 2017, he stopped being able to fix his gaze, which was vital for the machine.
His family developed their own paper-based spelling system and observed his eye movements. However, he soon lost all control of his eye movements.
It was then that the family contacted the researchers looking for help.
Dr Jonas Zimmermann, Senior Neuroscientist at the Wyss Center in Geneva, said the patient’s “biggest wish was to be able to communicate, talk to his son, as he was growing up”.
Dr Zimmermann said this is believed to be the first time someone with locked in syndrome has been able to communicate via brain activity.
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“This study answers a long-standing question about whether people with complete locked-in syndrome (CLIS) also lose the ability of their brain to generate commands for communication,” he said.
George Kouvas, chief technology officer at Wyss, said the system would allow people with ALS to comfortably have care at home, rather than in a hospital.