By Susan Christensen
Health and Research News Service

It was only her first week of occupational therapy school, but Stephanie Hood had good reason to drop out and head home to Guntown.

She had just gotten word that her father, Steve, a 28–year veteran of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, had died in a car crash during a high speed chase.

Since he came to Methodist Rehabilitation Center, 13-year-old Kendarious Woods has seen speedy recovery from his spinal cord injury by an accidental gunshot wound.

But as is true for any teenager born into the information age where everything is faster than immediate, Woods can be impatient.

“I know I’m getting better,” he said during his recent stay at the Jackson hospital. “But it’s just taking too long! I know it’s only been three weeks, but I wish it could have been two days.”

The medical device used to help 57-year-old Annie Johnson recover from a debilitating stroke blurs the lines between science and science fiction.

“When they were telling me about the Bioness, I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to be bionic,’” she said. “I thought it was space-age stuff.”

That’s the Bioness H200 Hand Rehabilitation System—a breakthrough medical device that has helped many patients just like her regain their independence.