Brad Smith, a man and father of Arizona with Als, has become the third person to receive neuralralin, the brain implant made by the company of Elon Musk.
He is also the first patient Als and the first non -verbal person to receive the implant, he shared in a post on the X Sunday.
“I am writing this with my brain. Communication is my main communication,” wrote Smith, who was diagnosed in 2020 in the post, which was also separated from Musk. He continued to thank Musk.
Smith is completely paralyzed and rests on a fan to breathe. He created a video using the brain-customer interface (BCI) to check the mouse on his MacBook Pro, he said.
“This is the first edited video with [Neuralink]And maybe a young man edited with a bci, “he said.
The video was shown by Smith’s “Old Voice”, “he said, who was cloned by artificial intelligence by recordings before losing the use of his voice.
“I want to explain how Neuralralink has influenced my life and give you a summary of how it works,” he said.
ALS (amiotrophic side sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegeneous disease affecting the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, according to the ALS association.
Over time, the disease damages muscle control until the patient is paralyzed. ALS is eventually fatal, with an average life expectancy of three years, although 10% of patients can survive for 10 years, and 5% live 20 years or longer.
Does not affect cognitive function.
Neuralralin, which is about 1.75 inches thick, was implanted in the motor cortex of the Smith, the part of the brain that controls the body movement.
The implanted device grabs neurons fires in the brain and sends a raw signal to the computer.
“He processes this data on a MacBook Pro -connected MacBook to decipher my target movements in real time to move the cursor to my screen,” Smith said.
“Neuralralk has given me freedom, hope and faster communication,” he added. “It has improved my life so much. I am very happy to be involved in something great that will help a lot of people.”
Smith is also a man of faith, saying that he believes that God has put him in this position to serve others.
“I have not always understood why God touched me with Als, but with time, I am learning to trust his plan for me,” he said.
“God loves me and my family. He has responded to our prayers in unexpected ways. He has blessed my children and our family. So I am learning to believe that God knows what he is doing.”
Smith also said he is grateful that he has to work with “Excellent people” in Neuralralink and do “really interesting work”.
“Don’t make me wrong, Als still really suck, but I’m talking about the big look,” he said. “The big picture is, I’m happy.”
Dr. Mary Ann Picone, medical director of the MS Center at the Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, applauded Neuralralin’s skills.
“This is an amazing development that now the third person who uses Neuralralk has gained the ability to use him to suppress with nerve thoughts,” Picone, who was not involved in Smith’s care, told, said Fox News Digital.
“The now -realized potential of neuralralin is to allow patients with quadrilateral to control computers and mobile devices with their thoughts.”
There are some risks involved in the implant, Picone noted. These include surgical infection, bleeding and damage to the underlying brain tissue.
“But the benefits are that patients who are paralyzed would have the potential to restore personal control over the limbs using their thoughts,” she said.
Dr. Peter Konrad, MD, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the WVU Rockefeller Institute Neuroscience in Western Virginia, called Neuralralk a “extraordinary demonstration of the power of technology led”.
“Mr Smith is an extraordinary hero for those who are severely disabled by diseases such as ALS,” said Konrad, who was also not involved in Smith’s care for Fox News Digital.
Konrad also talked about the advances that have taken place since past generations of BCI technology.
“It is encouraging to see faster progress by making nerve devices that reach clinical evidence in the last five to 10 years,” he said. “However, we are still waiting for the development of a BCI device that does not require a team of engineers and experts to fix each patient with disabilities severely with this technology.”
“For each Brad Smith there, there are hundreds of thousands of other patients with disabilities who expect access to this technology,” he said.
“This video shows the safety of these types of equipment – now is the time to provide greater access to these devices through a new generation of doctors, engineers and educated manufacturers able to place this technology.”
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Image Source : nypost.com