Marine Walks Again, with a Little Help from Tech

Emily Burch cried when her son Joshua, a Marine, walked 256 steps toward her last month in the hallway of a Virginia hospital.

It was not just an emotional moment, but a miraculous one. Joshua Burch is paralyzed, the result of an accident while he was serving in Guam.

Burch, 21, doesn’t remember getting hit. One moment the aircraft rescue and firefighting specialist was speaking with his sergeant in a hotel room, and the next moment — actually the next day — hotel employees surrounded him and were trying to help him up.

“They were trying to lift me up, get me to move,” Burch told the Military Times. “But that wasn’t going to happen.”

Burch had suffered a fracture to his seventh cervical vertebrae, the lowest bone in the neck. He was left with little movement in his arms, no movement in his legs, and no definite prognosis for the future.

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But Burch is a Marine. Marines don’t quit.

After several surgeries and a recovery in Hawaii, Burch was ready to see just how far he could push himself physically. He was transferred to the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center at McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia.

There, with assistive technology, Burch was able to do what so many of us take for granted each day: walk. Burch was helped by the Ekso GT, a lower-body exoskeleton consisting of robotic leg braces and accompanied by a battery pack.

“A person with a spinal cord injury who has the ability to stand and walk is an amazing thing,” Dr. Asraf Gorgey, chief of spinal cord injury research at the VA Center, told the Military Times.

“Not only are there physical and psychological benefits, but the physiological impact is huge,” said Gorgey. “The act of walking can prevent so many other health issues associated with long-term paralysis, including heart disease, diabetes, muscular atrophy (and) bone loss.”

Peter Wilderotter, president and CEO of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, agreed.

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“If those with paralysis were able to stand just one hour a day, that would be very impactful in terms of blood flow, muscle mass and limiting secondary complications,” he told LifeZette. “The science around our big ideas is quite amazing.”

For Burch’s family, the technology is nothing short of a miracle. Burch’s resolve was not so surprising.

“He didn’t want to stop,” Burch’s mother Emily told the Military Times of her son’s first try with the robotic legs. “It’s why the therapists here like working with Marines, because they always want to do more than asked of them. They want to push through.”

Emily should know: She has four sons, all of whom are serving in the Corps or are Marine vets.

Burch’s brother, Marine Staff Sgt. Travis Burch, was bursting with pride.

“He’s humble and he’s tough. If anyone can do this, it’s him, and his motivation improves every day by leaps and bounds,” he told USA Today.

Burch excelled at navigating his robotic legs, using a walker for balance. During his first appointment in January with the legs, in which just a fitting usually occurs, he took 256 steps. A week later, he did two laps around the hospital ward, doing so well that Gorgey said he could borrow them later that day — for his rank promotion to corporal.

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He stood tall at his promotion ceremony on February 5th in the hospital, facing his brother Marines. His brother Travis read his orders.

Booming Field
The use of assistive technology is a growing field. Lockheed Martin is exploring exoskeletal devices for combat scenarios; these might help with the strength and endurance of “boots on the ground” infantrymen and women. Other companies are concentrating on the medical uses of exoskeletons for disabilities.

“It was actually President Bush who signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, which paved the way for the assistive technology that Christopher Reeve used, which back at that time was about enabling communication,” Wilderotter told LifeZette. “Chris was able to communicate and use email, too.”

Since 2011 a company called ReWalk has been sponsored by the Veterans Health Administration for its research in exoskeleton devices and applications. Veterans who have used the device hope for the day when they will again walk in their homes and communities.

“If you think about the advances, it’s amazing,” said Wilderotter. “Paralysis years ago sadly meant, ‘Well, here’s your chair.’ In a relatively short time we have come very far, where assistive technology is opening up the world for people who suffer paralysis.”

Marine Captain Derek Herrera became one of the first Americans to acquire his own ReWalk after the FDA approved the devices for use in 2014. Herrera had been hit by a sniper’s bullet in Afghanistan in 2012. The device cost $70,000, but the MARSOC Foundation (the U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command) raised the funds for purchasing it.

Burch liked that idea. “I definitely would like to have a personal one of these,” he said to the Military Times.

The future looks continually brighter for people with paralysis.

“At the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, we are excited about research that culminated in four young men, all of whom were living with complete paralysis, who were able to voluntarily move their legs and stand as a result of small device called an epidural stimulator, that was implanted on their lower spinal cord,” noted Wilderotter.

“Even more exciting, all four reported significant improvements in autonomic functions like bowel, bladder, and sexual function, as well as temperature regulation and cardiovascular function. It’s truly amazing. We have 36 more patients in line to receive the epidural stimulator, and are trying to raise $15 million to advance this extremely important research.”

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