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Tucson stroke victim back on her feet thanks to technology

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Posted 8:41 AM 6/25/2012 : Tucson stroke victim back on her feet thanks to technology

TUCSON- Sixty-three-year-old Nancy Buehler remembers the day her life changed forever. "I was just getting up and I just fell down," Buehler says.

A couple years ago Buehler woke up one morning and found her entire left side was numb. "I couldn't walk. I couldn't even sit up," Buehler says.

She had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and stroke. "I lost half of my life because I was real active."

But about a year ago, Buehler started using the Bioness L300. It's worn in two parts, a small transmitter in the shoe and a device strapped below the knee. When Buehler tries to walk, the Bioness L300 sends electronic signals to a nerve, which then stimulates muscles to move. "I am thrilled, this is just the most amazing device ever," Buehler says. "I don't know who invented it, but I have a lot of gratitude toward that person.

"The idea is that hopefully a person will be able to re-remember and regain that strength and that connection so that they would actually be able to pick the foot up and wouldn't need it anymore," says Megan Logan, a physical therapist at Healthsouth Rehabilitation Institute. 

The technology is also used to help patients who suffered a traumatic brain injury, or who have multiple sclerosis.

Today Buehler is back in her kitchen, cooking. She can once again walk the family dog.  Her final goal is to move around on her own again.

There is one downside to the Bioness L300.  Buehler says a lot of insurance policies don't cover the cost, which runs about $5,000.  Still, thousands of people across the country are using the equipment.

Healthsouth Rehabilitation Institute of Tucson will be having a free screening day July 12 from 9am to 12pm at 2650 North Wyatt Drive.

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