http://www.Bioness.com - Duane - "Defying All Odds"
Duane is a businessman, husband, and active father of five who broke his neck in a rugby accident and was paralyzed as a result.
A 99% chance of never walking again
"I would say that where I am today is defying all odds...It's really amazing how far I've come from sitting with my family and the doctors looking and saying, You have a 99% chance to never walk again.' My first response was [I] have a one percent chance to walk again. I asked the doctor, How many people with this injury level walk again?' and he said, Three.' I said, You're looking at number four.'"
Motivation + Bioness = Success
"The very first time putting [the NESS L300] on, it was remarkable. The improvement and my ability to walk immediately took me from being on a rolator walker, on crutches, to walking with two crutches or two canes, [then] just one point cane within a two month time period."
"It was remarkable how [the NESS L300] allowed my normal gait pattern to come through, to raise my toes from that standpoint. And with a little bit of work to strengthen the muscles that had atrophied, within two months, I was able to wear it full time."
Working out - on the job
"With the L300 I can be sitting in a business meeting and put it in training mode and everyone else in the business meeting just thinks I'm tapping my leg to a song in my head. And I'm really sitting there working out. I would definitely say my recovery has been phenomenal."
Dramatic changes with the NESS L300
"My wife had just had our fifth child - a month old when [my rugby accident] happened. And all of a sudden she had a sixth child - a sixth child in diapers and didn't know how to feed itself. Very emotional."
"I would say where I am today is defying all odds. The L300 from Bioness accelerated my recovery. And [now] when I'm walking it's my muscles making me walk. So it's pretty revolutionary."
"I would say that life has changed so dramatically that today I could [walk] anywhere a normal person can [walk] to. I don't need special wheelchair seating. I can walk down to the front row of seats of a play or game. Or like this summer when we were at the beach, I didn't need a special beach wheelchair or someone to carry me across the beach. I could walk across the beach and go play in the water and build a sand castle. That means a lot."
