Jeniffer Mathews: this is how Heidi Cline gets to school, to work, and back home; pedalling 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 am not going to have a seizure, but I can't guarantee that, and I don't want to put other people at risk.
Jeniffer Mathews: Patricia Ellenburg may hold the answer for Heidi. She also suffers from epilepsy.
Patricia Ellenburg: I stiffen up and i bite the inside of my mouth and salivate a lot and moan.
Jeniffer Mathews: But something implanted in Patricia's brain may stop her seizures.
William Bell: This device is a little computer.
Jeniffer Mathews: The Responsive Neurostimulator, or RNS, detects abnormal activity and sends out electrical impulses to stop a seizure from happening.
William Bell: The wires, electrodes, could come out from this device can actually send an impulse at the time a seizure is beginning.
Jeniffer Mathews: RNS reaches parts of the brain that cannot be safely removed by surgery. That's why this device is so important for people like Patricia.
William Bell: If we would have taken out a large area of her left frontal lobe, it could have affected her speech.
Jeniffer Mathews: It could have a huge impact on more than three-million people living with epilepsy.
Heidi Cline: I'd like to think there's a miracle out there out there but they just haven't found it.
Jeniffer Mathews: Maybe they have. This is Jeniffer Mathews reporting.
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