After his stroke, Wes (pictured here) was treated in the intensive care unit of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.(Schlauch family)
Wes, using his cane, on his way to high school prom.(Schlauch family)
SONY DSC(Schlauch family)
When Wes Schlauch, of Breinigsville, PA, was 16 years old, he suffered a stroke that paralyzed the entire right side of his body. Miraculously, three years later, Wes is not only walking and talking hes even sending text messages, attending college and going on fishing trips with friends.
Wes positive attitude, devotion to rehabilitation and strong support system has had much to do with his success. But Wes has also benefitted tremendously from a cutting-edge technology that is revolutionizing therapies for patients suffering from brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases: a new treatment known as functional electrical stimulation (FES).
FES has been pioneered by companies like Bioness Inc., based in Valencia, CA., which created the devices that Wes uses. The devices which Wes wears on both his right hand and leg use electricity to stimulate the damaged portions of his brain and the neural connections between the brain and muscles.
The idea is that by using the electrical stimulation to make the muscle fire, his brain will retrain and relearn, and his muscles will fire more automatically without it in the long term, Jolene Hammer, a physical therapist at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Bethlehem, PA., who works with Wes, told FoxNews.com.
FOUR IN 100,000 Strokes are incredibly rare among children and teenagers like Wes.
From after the newborn period through age 18, the incidence (of stroke) that we estimate is about four in 100,000 children per year, Dr. Rebecca Ichord, director of the pediatric stroke program at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, who treated Wes, told FoxNews.com.
According to Ichord, Wes stroke was likely triggered after he experienced whiplash while playing hockey. Doctors believe that one of the arteries in Wes neck twisted and dissected, causing the walls of the artery to separate. This caused a blockage in Wes blood flow that led to the formation of a clot resulting in a stroke.