CLEARWATER, Kansas, July 18, 2008 – Thanks to a cutting-edge tool at Wichita's Wesley Rehab Hospital, a 17-year-old Kansas teen is recovering after a brain injury one year ago confined him to a hospital bed.

“I can shoot my gun, start my truck, put it in reverse,” said Kieth Bernsten.

Those are all things Keith Bernsten thought he would never do again.

“From what I hear, I bought a four wheeler, a really fast one, and I took a jump and I didn't land right,” Keith said.

That landing would change the Clearwater teen’s life forever.

Keith as air-lifted to Via Christi St. Francis and while he broke no bones, doctors told his parents that their son had sustained a major brain injury. The most he would ever do again was lie in a hospital bed.

“He was unconscious for around a month,” said Keith’s mother, Tami.

But when Keith finally woke up, he proved doctors wrong by starting to move again. Occupational Therapist Heather Lyvers, at Wesley Rehab, introduced a muscle stimulation device called a “Bioness” to help regain movement to the right side of his body.

“It stimulates the hand muscles to open and close,” Lyvers said.

The Bioness retrained Kieth’s brain by shocking electrodes into his forearm and had, stimulating the muscles to move. He used a similar device to do the same for his legs and feet.

“It feels like grabbing on to an electric fence,” Keith said.

Keith uses the Bioness three times per week during rehab and every day at home. It helped him get his basic movements back and back to doing teen-aged things like texting his friends and playing video games.

“He loves Xbox,” said Tami. “I’ve seen a big improvement on how he plays his Xbox.”

Tami says the only downside is that the treatment is experimental so insurance won’t pay for it. But it’s worth it to finally see her son get his life back.

The Bioness can also be used on patients of stroke, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and spinal cord injuries.

To learn more about the device, click on News Links.