(upbeat music) - So we have been getting
a lot of DMS, emails, text messages, Facebook
messages, comments on YouTube. I mean, literally everything. - Yeah, wherever someone can reach us. - Yes. - We've been getting this. - Regarding the new study. Is it a study? That's what it is, or? - Yeah, well, it's a new study and it's coming out of Switzerland. It's about an epidural stimulator trial that was done over there. So they use an epidural stimulator. And what that is, to give you the details, is it's an array of
electrodes on a little sheet, so to speak, that is implanted
directly onto your spine. And those electrodes can be programmed to help people with paralysis use their limbs below the level of injury, where they wouldn't have
been able to before. Now, this is super exciting! Obviously, you know? - Yeah. - I mean, it's really, really cool. Although some of the articles kind of, because I read a lot of these articles, and a number of them were saying that this is the first time
that this has been done. That's not necessarily true. - Yeah. - In fact, an estimated a
hundred or so individuals with spinal cord injury in the US have had epidural stimulators
implanted on their spines. And it's working. It's working for a lot of people. It's making a huge
difference in their life. So it is awesome and it's still very exciting stuff. - Yeah. - But it's not necessarily the
first time this has happened. - And a lot of people who messaged us, were wondering like if
Cole could get this, and if this will allow him to walk and you know, just asking, is this, you know, the hope for Cole to walk again in the future? - I am hopeful. I think it's an amazing technology. It hasn't been refined to the point where, like, people
are taking fluid steps. Like it's still very much like- - Robotic. - It's, yeah, it's a struggle. It's like caveman steps, you know? - Yeah. - So the technology has a long way to go, and it's never going to
solve all of the problems that come along with a spinal cord injury. The things that it does solve, it has been shown to give
people voluntary control of their blowel, blowel. - You just put it together. - The bowel and bladder. Not (indistinct). Control of their bladder and
bowel again, which is huge. - Huge. - Sign me up for that, you know? - Yeah. - Sign me up for that before walking. You know, I think there's a misconception about walking being like
our number one priority. - Well, yeah. Your number one priority. You know, we've talked to a lot of people who have spinal cord injuries and anytime these studies come out and it's like, "Oh, you can walk again." I think a lot of people who aren't in Cole's situation
automatically assume, "Oh, he wants to walk again." But there are so many things
that come before walking, like bowel and bladder function, hand function, tricep function, sensation, all of those things trump walking. And so I think a lot
of people kind of like misunderstand that and the fact that like a lot of people with SCIs don't necessarily need
to walk or want to walk. There's a lot of other
things that they want first. Walking is cool. Of course. But there are other things
that if Cole got back, he'd be so ecstatic. - I think there's the difference between things that restore independence and things that restore convenience. - Yes. - For me to regain bladder
and bowel function, that is restoring a huge deal
of independence in my life. I can get where I need to go in this chair for the most part. And so, walking necessarily wouldn't like change
my world in that sense, it would just make some
things more convenient. But you know, my wheelchair's pretty good. - Cole's wheelchair gives him freedom. A lot of freedom. He's not bound to his wheelchair. He's not confined to his wheelchair. His wheelchair gives him freedom. It's not Cole's priority. And if he could choose
anything to get back, walking would probably fall
further down on the list. - There was another article
published, fairly recently, that only two people sent to me. It was my mom and dad. And it was about a study that's being advanced to phase two clinical trials in humans, for a molecular compound that will help the spinal
cord regenerate itself. This is equally exciting to me because the epidural stimulator is going to help out a lot
of people in a lot of ways, but it's still very.. it's very much in its early stages. Doesn't solve all the problems and it takes a great deal of rehab to actually realize
that return of function. Because when you get that
epidural stimulator put in, that is, rehab becomes your full-time job. It's not like you just click it on and then immediately it works. - Yeah. - No, you have to go
through hours and hours and hours and hours of rehab for months. - [Charisma] A lot of people
assume that it's like. Like Cole said, you just get it clicked on and it works right away, but there's so much rehab and not a lot of people have the time to be able to give,
literally give up everything to focus on working
out eight hours a week. Eight hours a day, you
know, seven days a week. - So it's almost a question of like, is it worth putting my whole life on hold to get a little bit of function back? Which is an interesting question. And I'm sure people without
paralysis would be like, "Oh well, of course I'd
do whatever it takes", but you know, I'm kind
of happy with my life. You know, we have stuff figured out. We have a routine, it's very normal. - You've been in a chair for ten years. - Yeah. - And I think that's
something to consider, when you've been in this situation
for 10 years, you adjust. You accommodate, you
find newfound happiness with your situation. And it's just like, you know what, I've gotten
so used to where my life is. Do I wanna stop everything to go back to where my life
used to be to walk again? Like it's just, I think
time makes a big difference. Maybe someone who was injured a year ago, or a few months ago, or two years ago may have a different perspective
than someone like Cole who's been injured 10 years or even more. - Going back to that other compound from the article my parents sent me. If those phase two clinical
trials in humans go well, that's really gonna be a game changer. Because if that can be approved and that can be shown to
have the efficacy it needs to like become a more
mainstream treatment, that can be used with
the epidural stimulator in a combinatorial treatment. And both of those modalities are gonna make a huge
difference in tandem. And that's when I start
getting really excited because then you are
thinking about, you know, a more fully formed recovery rather than just like, you know, a little bit here and a little bit there that might not really change your world. - And I think it's
important to hear, you know, Cole's perspective when
it comes to these studies and to learn more. And another thing that
people message us about or comment on our YouTube
about, is the exoskeleton. So a lot of people who find our channel usually find that video first, because it's like extremely popular and a lot of people ask
if we own the exoskeleton and why doesn't Cole use that more often. - [Cole] Yeah. - [Charisma] So no, we
don't own the exoskeleton. That was borrowed, or we used it through the
hospital, Sheltering Arms. - I think it's like $180,000 to buy one. - Oh yeah, it's super expensive. Some people do have it but it's not very functional for Cole. Like he couldn't just
strap on the exoskeleton and just walk around the house and just use it, because he needs help. He doesn't have core so he is
not able to hold himself up. So maybe for a paraplegic, or someone with more function
than Cole can use it. But for everyday life, it wouldn't be functional for Cole. - Yeah. And I have seen paras and they're able to
strap it on themselves. They're able to like roll
around in their chair and then using some lobster crutches, just stand right up and walk around. And that's super exciting for paras to be able to use that. For me, it's more of a
rehab thing for sure. - Yes. It's more about, you know,
getting some weight on my bones, help with my bone density. Helps with the blood pressure, helps with, you know getting
those muscles down there, contracting just through
like spasms and stuff and blood flow. All that stuff is very helpful. It's just, like she said, it takes a team of three
people to get it on, to stand me up, and like I'll have an
hour and a half session and everything, just getting it set up and
getting me standing up. And then taking it down, that's like half or longer of our session. Me walking around isn't even that much. - And then Cole standing,
as you have seen before, Cole gets very lightheaded when he stands which is also a reason he
can't walk for so long. Although his muscles are moving and the blood is going
like throughout his body, it still is exhausting
for his body to stand when it's not used to doing that. But it also really helps
with giving standing hugs, which is why I love it too.
- Yeah, those huggy hugs. So going back to the epidural stimulator, one other thing that kind
of turns me off of it at this stage, is the fact that it is
a very invasive surgery. - Yeah. - I mean, they're literally implanting this onto your spinal cord. Like they're connecting this onto individual spinal fibers. That is as about. That's about as invasive as you can get. But what's really cool is they're starting to find
that the same technology can be used transcutaneously. Which means that they
can just put it on like, your back, like along your spine, and then send shock waves into
you. (electricity whirring) And boom, it's having a similar result. Which is awesome because then the clearances
you need like through the FDA are way easier to get past. But if we can just slap a
stimulator on someone's back and then have these same
functional recoveries, that is going to be a real game changer. And that's when you can start using that in rehab right
after someone gets hurt. - Yeah. - You know, two weeks
later, just slap it on and get that ball rolling
from a very early stage. Because it's way easier
to get that recovery back when your body is still
going through those changes. - Yeah. - Rather than 10 years later, like me. - Yeah. So a lot of
these studies, you know, like Cole was saying, it's
a lot better for people who have more acute injuries
rather than chronic injuries. - And that is what is exciting about the epidural stimulator, is it's what's really focusing
on the chronic population. - Yeah. - I'm the chronic. (Snoop Dog's "The Next Episode") (laughing) - You're the chronic . - I'm the chronic. The day where some of these
very exciting treatments and modalities are combined, is going to be the day
where we are like seeing some extraordinary changes. - Yeah. - And I'm just waiting
for that day to come. I do feel like it's coming. I think some really
awesome stuff's happening and we didn't even touch on like what Elon Musk is doing with Neuralink. That's a whole other can of worms. - It's interesting
reading all these articles and learning so much
information, you know, both of us studied, you know, biology, psychology, and you know, we're both really into
like that medical world. And so it's really fascinating
for us to learn more and to talk about it. I know we have a lot of people who are in that medical world too, so. - So that's our little science
update on the SCI world. - Yeah. - If y'all enjoy this type
of content, let us know. because sometimes I feel like
I'm just like nerding out because you know, like she
said, I studied neuroscience. This is right up my alley. - Yeah. - I've read so many research
articles on this stuff. - We just didn't want you guys to feel like you're in a science class right now. - Yeah. But yeah. Let us know what
you think in the comments. We'd be curious to hear. And if you have other science-y questions. - Yeah. - That you're curious about,
you think we could help with, we'd like to hear them as well. - Yes. Thank you for watching. Don't forget to. - [Both] Like, comment,
share and subscribe, and stay positive! (kissing noise) - Peace out! (gentle music)
