MIAMI – For years, researchers have expanded the understanding the role of the mind and just how powerful it can be, now scientists have harnessed that power to help a quadriplegic Miami man drive a race car.
For German Aldana, it was a once in a lifetime experience.
Though he’s never held a driver’s license, in mid-May he drove a NASCAR race car around Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado Springs, CO.
“When I got there and did the first lap I lost fear and I just felt excited a rush, just unbelievable something I never thought I was going to do,” he said.
Now 25, Aldana was 16 years old in 2013 when he was involved in a car accident that left him a quadriplegic.
“At that time in the beginning I was sad, I couldn’t believe it. It was hard for me at first,” he said.
Then Aldana became part of the Brain Machine Interface Research at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, which is part of the University of Miami-Miller School of Medicine.
Controlling objects through his thought process involves an implanted device that connects to areas of his brain and special gloves that complete the communication link.
“There was technology already available that was used in Parkinson’s patients where we have a deep brain stimulation system that’s we repurposed for listening in to the brain signals from German that allow us to listen to that signal and translate it into something meaningful,” said Kevin Davis with The Miami Project To Cure Paralysis.
Aldana added: “Whenever I think about opening the glove opens, whenever I think about closing the glove closes so it works with my mind.”
He now envisions a future that will bring even more ways to be mobile.
“Not just for me but for other people who are paralyzed till one day be able to walk again that’s the goal for me,” Aldana said.
The experience was made possible Falci Adapative Motorsports, an organization started by a neurosurgeon to help create innovative experiences for people with mobility impairments.