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February 10, 2006 – Teen Can Breathe By Himself Again

By: Shannon Samson

Actor Christopher Reeve was one of the first quadriplegics to use a
diaphragm pacemaker.

Before Reeve's death, he spoke in interviews about how doctors were still working out some of the kinks.

Thanks in part to people like him, the technology has been refined, and is now available to patients everywhere.

And this diaphragm pacemaker is now allowing one Spencer County, Indiana teenager to breathe for the first time without a ventilator since an accident four years ago.

A computer keeps 19-year-old Jakob Lathery in touch with the world Otherwise, it can get pretty lonely.

Lathery says, "Right now, nobody wants to sit with me because they're terrified of the ventilator."

At first, he was terrified of it too after the crash. He was only 14 when he attempted to make a 30-foot jump on a motorcycle practice track.

Lathery landed face-first, and his helmet shifted his vertebrae out of line. He ended up with a C2-C3 level incomplete spinal cord injury.

Jakob is paralyzed from the neck down. So, it's not just his arms and legs that don't move, it's his lungs too.

Jakob says, "When I first got hurt, I actually begged them. I said, 'please turn the ventilator off, and let me die. I don't want to live like this.'"

Recently, that ventilator was turned off, but only because a diaphragm pacemaker took over. It consists of five hair-thin wires that essentially contract and relax his diaphragm, allowing him to breathe on his own.

Once he builds up the muscle, the ventilator can be shut off for good. Just one more thing that's helping him become more independent. "I'm not going to be in this chair forever. I'll be back on a motorcycle someday. I can't wait," Jakob promises.

Until then, he's taking online courses to become a Web developer. Technology is allowing him to do just about anything he wants with movement and now breathing.

That's what he told quadriplegic tornado victim William Pfingston after recently donating a wheelchair to the teenager. Jakob replies, "Life doesn't end at paralysis. In some ways, it just begins."

Jakob is the first person to ever have both a diaphragm and a cardiac pacemaker. He needed the cardiac one right after his accident because his heart rate was inconsistent. Now his heart is strong, so the device remains on stand-by.

Still, doctors had to test the two machines to see if they'd interfere with each other inside his body. Luckily, the interference was minimal. And Jakob had to get FDA approval before the operation.