'Amazing gift' aids walking at OUHSC

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The Lokomat allowed the now 24-year-old to stand and begin to relearn how to walk, but she was only able to use it as part of a four-month research study.

Upon hearing of the woman's injury and the help the machine provided, a group of metro-area residents raised money to place one at the University of Oklahoma College of Allied Health.

Jeanie Sholer, Jane Sholer's mother, said saying thanks isn't enough.

"It was the first time I had seen her walk in over a year,” she said of watching her daughter use the machine in Dallas. "The expression on her face was priceless.”

Jeanie Sholer said the donation offers huge promise. Even if users can't walk again, the therapy will still help.

The $269,000 Lokomat looks like what would happen if a parachute harness and ski lift met a white bionic skeleton from a comic book.

The OUHSC machine is one of only 40 nationwide and two in colleges of allied health. The closest machine previously was in Dallas.

The Lokomat can help speed the recovery of patients with brain and spinal cord injuries and also can help patients with multiple sclerosis, and cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders.

Lela Sullivan, who spearheaded fundraising for the machine, said those who need its therapy shouldn't have to drive to Dallas to receive it.

"I said, ‘Why on earth isn't it available in Oklahoma City and to the people of Oklahoma?'” she said. "This seemed like the perfect place, where it's open to all Oklahomans.”

Health sciences center Provost Joseph J. Ferretti said he spent a day in Dallas, examining the machine.

"This really is important. It's important for all kinds of reasons and all kinds of people,” he said.

Shirley James, who teaches physical therapy at the health sciences center, would like to see how patients who use the Lokomat compare to those who use the traditional, more labor-intensive approach.

She would like to use MRIs to scan patients' brains to see what areas activate when they are on the machine. She thinks its effectiveness is because of "neuroplasticity,” the ability of the brain to form new nerve pathways.

James said an important feature of the machine is that it allows patients to do as much or as little as they are able.

"They're only having to control whatever percent of their body weight they can handle,” she said.

Laura Rauh, a second-year physical therapy graduate student, called the machine "an amazing gift” and thinks plenty of people will benefit from it over time.

"I've seen people tear up whenever they see their son walk,” she said.