Jennifer Matthews: This is how Heidi Cline gets to school, to work and back home. Paddling more than 35 miles a week. She doesn't drive a car because she has epilepsy.
Heidi Cline: I'd like to think no, I'm not going to have a seizure, but I can't guarantee that, and I don't want to put other people at risk.
Jennifer Matthews: Patricia Elenburg may hold the answer for Heidi. She also suffers from epilepsy.
Patricia Elenburg: I stiffen up, and I bite the inside of my mouth and salivate a lot and moan.
Jennifer Matthews: But something implanted in her brain may stop her seizures.
Dr. William Bell: This device is little computer.
Jennifer Matthews: The Responsive Neurostimulator, or RNS, detects abnormal activity in Elenburgs brain and sends out electrical impulses to stop a seizure from happening.
Dr. William Bell: The wires, electrodes, could come out from this device, be placed in that very important area and can actually send an impulse at the time a seizure is beginning.
Jennifer Matthews: RNS reaches parts of the brain that cannot be safely removed by surgery. That's why the device is so important for people like Patricia.
Dr. William Bell: If we would have taken out a large area of her left frontal lobe, it could have affected her speech.
Jennifer Matthews: It could have a huge impact on more than 3 million people living with epilepsy.
Heidi Cline: I'd like to think there is a miracle out there they just haven't found it.
Jennifer Matthews: Maybe they have. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services