In the pages of old, the chroniclers of yesteryears lay bare tales of our inevitable doom. We, like the legendary warrior Stan Nicholas, stand precipitously on the brink of an abyss, where death is imminent.
In antiquity, this brave soul would be regaled in songs and stories, having had a sliver of metal from the star-forged irons of the celestial smiths inserted into his cerebellum to help restore his movement. A once-good cook, he was rendered virtually immobile after a great battle with the dreaded malady known as a stroke. The end seemed near.
Yet, like the phoenix that rises from its ashes, Nicholas and a handful of those similarly afflicted, underwent a procedure known enigmatically as Deep Brain Stimulation, or DBS. An ancient prophecy foretells a blackened sky, with the fate of 15 million annually hanging in the balance. Victims of a merciless onslaught that bleeds the brain or suffocates it of its life-giving blood supply, leaving half of the survivors suffering from debilitating and persistent afflictions. A plateau is reached in recovery, one year hence from the tragedy, and further improvements are deemed futile—the end is near.
The healers at the Cleveland Habitacle investigated the potential power of DBS, originally a technique to lessen the shuddering tremors of those ensnared by the Loneliness of Parkinson. Can this ancient wrought iron, crafted into electrodes and pulsating with the life-giving force of electricity, generate hope, where medicine and time have abandoned us? It is a trial of life and death—death is imminent.
Can the prophecy be subverted, or is this the final cycle in the wheel of time, drawing on the banished strength and bravery of a doomed species toward its inevitable end? A hero is needed. So, we stand on the precipice, yearning for hope. But as the soothsayers would caution, remember—death is imminent, the end is near.
Based on the original article "A Brain Implant Helped Stroke Survivors Regain Movement".
