AURORA, Colo. — Kyle Severson was 12 years old when a series of aneurysms and a stroke forced him to relearn everything.
Two years ago, he saw a story about vagus nerve stimulator implants — devices that send an electrical signal from the vagus nerve to the brain. Paired with occupational therapy, those signals can retrain the brain to more easily navigate mobility and movement, such as gripping an object with your hand.
WATCH: Denver man's push for stroke treatment brings new procedure to Colorado
The procedure was not available in Colorado. Severson pushed his doctor to change that.
Last year, he became the first UCHealth patient to receive the implant.
“One’s health care shouldn’t be defined by where they live or what region they are in, and I’m very grateful to UCHealth for taking the initiative and fighting with me to make this procedure available in Colorado,” Severson said.
His grip has improved so much that he can now cut food with a knife and fork independently. That confidence allowed him to recently go on a date at a restaurant for the first time.
“The VNS implant has made wonderful gains within my life. It gave me a new sense of purpose. It gave me my sense of venture back to outdoor activities, where when I was in my youth, since I was so young with my incident, I felt kind of isolated,” Severson said.
Dr. Delia Bakeman, a neuropsychiatrist at UCHealth, said Severson’s persistence paid off. It took UCHealth a year to build the program, secure doctors and rehabilitation specialists, and get insurance approvals. It was the first hospital in Colorado to offer VNS implants.
“I think it’s a game changer for stroke patients in Colorado and everywhere. The world of neurorehabilitation, like neuro recovery after big bad brain stuff, has been really limited. We have not had a lot of hope in terms of new things being approved, medications, funding, and so getting a device that’s approved that can make a life-altering difference in functionality for stroke patients is a big game changer,” Bakeman said.
UCHealth has performed the surgery on 14 other patients, with more awaiting surgery.
To qualify, patients must have had an ischemic stroke and be 17 years old or older. Bakeman said what is incredible and rare about the device is that there is no time limit on who can use it.
“So people could be really far out from their stroke — five years, 10 years, 20 years — and still be a potential candidate for this device. People do need to be older than 17. They need to have had a certain kind of stroke called an ischemic stroke, where you’ve lost blood or oxygen flow to the brain,” Bakeman said.
After the device is implanted, patients must undergo six weeks of occupational therapy, followed by long-term therapy at home.
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