My name is Holly, and my daughter is Marisa. She's four years old. Marisa is so loving. She loves to give hugs. She's very friendly and outgoing and despite her disabilities, she loves life and she doesn't let anything stop her.
When she was about two years old, she developed an autoimmune disease in her central nervous system. She has a movement disorder called dystonia and she has it on the right side of her body. She can walk, but she does have an abnormal gait. She either drags her foot or she has to lift her foot up high so that she's not dragging her foot and tripping over it.
We were working with a physical therapist who was insistent that Marisa needed an AFO. And I just kept disagreeing with her. I did not think the AFO was helping Marisa. And so I just looked on the Internet and found the Bioness system. And from what I understand she was one of the first children to try the unit. And it worked great for her.
She doesn't complain about it, and in fact, in the mornings when I'm getting her ready, she says, Bioness on! So she's adjusted to it very well.
Before she had the L300, she fell almost every day at pre-school. After the L300, she's more stable and more confident in her walking, and she does not catch her right foot and stumble forward as frequently.
So when she's wearing the unit, she walks almost normally. With the Bioness unit she's able to run, and she can keep up with all her friends and her brother and is just like any other kid. Her teachers just marvel at how much more stable she is, how she doesn't fall, and how much more comfortable she is at school. She's just so much happier and confident.
The Bioness works so much better than the AFO. It gives Marisa more freedom to run and use the muscles in her ankle. An AFO would be more rigid and not let her bend her ankle as much. If she couldn't use those muscles, they could atrophy, possibly, and she would develop some weakness.
What's nice about the L300 is it's very easy to change shoes. Depending on the outfits that she's wearing, you can't even tell that she has it on.
And, you know, the unit...it's tough and it is surviving what a 4-year-old who likes to play hard puts it through.
Certainly I'm most thankful that Marisa survived and is happy, and can tell me that she loves me. And brings so much joy to my life and our family's life.
