Space Suit Medicine
11/05/2006
Shea French Gibbens has learnt to walk
When Shea French Gibbens was just eight months old he was diagnosed with Cerebal Palsy. Doctors told his parents he would be wheelchair bound for life and would never be able to stand or walk. His father Mick refused to give up hope and spent many hours searching the internet looking for a cure. He discovered a clinic in Poland that uses a special Russian spacesuit to treat paralysis.
The space suit was originally used to treat astronauts suffering from muscle wasting from being in space. His parents flew Shea out to the clinic for a course of intensive treatment. He has now defied all the odds and has just recently taken his first steps.
Twins Shea and Tommy were born 3 months prematurely. Tommy who weighed just 13oz sadly died but Shea who weighed 2Ib 3oz managed to cling on for life. Within days Shea's lungs failed and the oxygen needed to keep him alive bought on a brain haemorrhage but he amazingly managed to pull through.
The Space Suit therapy
Mick stumbled across a US website about the Euromed clinic in Poland, which uses Russian space suit technology to treat paralysis. The Adeli space suit was originally designed to help astronauts recover from muscle wasting caused by long spells of weightlessness in space. This problem is very similar to the symptoms suffered by patients with cerebal palsy. Although it is called a 'spacesuit' this is a generic name and not like a spacesuit as we know it. The suit is a contraption covered with interconnecting elastic chords which support and guide the body whilst strengthening it. Physiotherapists then put patients through rigorous exercises to help retrain the brain to understand signals from the correct movement of the muscles. At this stage there had been no controlled clinical trials and at first Mick dismissed it as another wacky therapy. After further investigation he discovered that other children had benefited from the treatment and even regained speech and muscle control.
The Future
Shea is now 7 years old and attends a mainstream school. He uses a powered electric wheel chair which he and his brothers called 'The spaceship'. Viv says the therapy now means that Shea can sit unaided out of his wheel chair to watch his favourite space films with his brothers Aaron (11) and Vinnie (4). She says: " he can join in now in a way he never could before" . Back home Shea continues his exercises and is looking forward to his next visit to Poland at the end of August. Mick and Viv are convinced that Shea will soon be able to walk unaided and refuse to ever give up on him. Since the therapy Shea has great plans and hope for the future and is constantly improving and developing every day. Shea is now so much more confident and is mixing and integrating a lot more with his brothers and friends at school. His ambition is to become a footballer and one day play for Real Madrid.
Go to the Shea French Gibbens Website
www.sheafrenchgibbens.org.uk
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