The Man with the Bionic Brain and Other Victories over Paralysis

When a knife severed his spinal cord, Matthew Nagle was instantly transformed from an active young man to an individual who could neither feel nor move below his upper shoulders and who was dependent on a machine for every breath and on others for help with every bodily function. Rehabilitation medicine specialist Mukand (medical director, Southern New England Rehabilitation Ctr.; editor, Vital Lines: Contemporary Fiction About Medicine) tells Nagle's story unflinchingly, showing the injury's brutal physical and emotional impact on Nagle and everyone in his life, but also in a way that will move readers. Mukand worked with Nagle as he became a research recipient of BrainGate, a device implanted in his brain that recorded brain waves and eventually allowed him to gain some control over a computer cursor and a robotic hand.