Medical Bionics: Health Story

Aired on Superstation WGN
Saturday, June 18 and October 22, 2005
Show 217

Jesse Sullivan of Dayton Tennessee lost both arms in a work-related accident. Today with the most sophisticated prosthesis ever made, he is often referred to as the "bionic man." After decades of research, Dr. Todd Kuiken, Director of the Amputee Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago developed a way to move prosthetics using the brain. "We let nerves grow into the muscles and make new connections. Then the brain can direct the nerves," says Dr. Kuiken. "In Jesse's case, we had never done this before. We had to go to an anatomy lab and practice surgery on cadavers," says Dr. Gregory Dumanian, Associate Professor of Surgery at Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation. With two fully functioning prosthetic arms which he moves by thought, Jesse looks forward to restoring his 1953 GM pickup and says, "There are a lot of things I intend to do."