Thank artificial intelligence for what doctors are declaring a contemporary medical “miracle.”
A Long Island man who was paralyzed in a diving accident has regained motion and feeling in his body after a breakthrough, machine learning-based surgery that successfully “connected a pc to his brain” through microelectrode implants.
Now, the successful case of Massapequa’s Keith Thomas, 45, is being heralded throughout the medical world as a “pioneer” case for AI-infused surgeries to treat or cure impassible illnesses like blindness, deafness, ALS, seizures, cerebral palsy and Parkinson’s, experts at Manhasset’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research boast.
“That is the primary time a paralyzed person is regaining movement and sensation by having their brain, body and spinal cord electronically linked together,” Chad Bouton, a professor at Feinstein’s Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine, told The Post.
“We could proceed to help hundreds of thousands of oldsters around the globe and perhaps with a fair broader range of conditions.”
![Chad Bouton worked with paralyzed Keith Thomas to regain feeling and movement.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/03-chadboutonlab.jpg?w=1024)
![- Keith Thomas Jr BEFORE ACCIDENT](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/keith-thomas-jr-gofundme-1.jpg?w=1024)
Three summers ago in 2020, Thomas, a successful wealth manager living in Manhattan for 20 years, had broken his neck and portions of his spine while diving right into a friend’s pool in Montauk. He blacked out under the water and awoke to learn the grim news that he was not answerable for his body.
Thomas, who had to move back into his South Shore hometown, had initially been told that he wouldn’t have the ability to ever move again below the neck — but he wouldn’t buy it.
“I’m a real Latest Yorker and wanted every thing [fixed] instantly,” Thomas — known for his humorousness — told The Post, recalling that even getting off the bed was a scary challenge at first.
![Keith Thomas was paralyzed after a diving accident and can now move and feel again.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/keith-thomas-jr-gofundme-05.jpg?w=1024)
Through trials, tribulations and major lifestyle adjustments, Thomas seldom lost his spirit or sense of unity with those that cared for him. He knew things would improve and the people in his life made sure of it.
His family members put together a GoFundMe, which raised greater than $360,000 to accommodate his needs after the accident — individual donations got here in as large as $10,000.
“He was loved by many and I didn’t even know this until people contacted me,” Michelle Bennett, Thomas’ sister who now lives with him, told The Post.
“Everybody thought they were his best friend, he made everyone feel special,” she added. “All of them rallied for him and passed the knowledge around. It was incredible how generous people have been for him.”
![Feinstein Institutesâ bioelectronic medicine researchers hold a 3-D model of the skull and brain of a man with quadriplegia just prior to a historic surgery at Northwell Healthâs North Shore University Hospital. Doctors and scientists used the model to help identify where to place five tiny computer chips in the brain to help restore not only lasting movement in the paralyzed manâs arm and hand, but also the sense of touch.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/07-modelskull-1.jpg?w=1024)
![Many people in Keith Thomas' life rallied to support him in wake of the accident.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/keith-thomas-jr-gofundme-02.jpg?w=1024)
Thomas’ love of life and the people in it — plus his outstanding determination — are literally what made him a great candidate for the first-of-its-kind surgery, Dr. Ashesh Mehta, director of the Institute’s Laboratory of Human Brain Mapping, told The Post.
“There was something special about Keith,” he said. “We knew that he had the strength, the proper attitude, the perseverance to do what’s required.”
What was required was a high-pressure 15-hour surgery, a few of which Thomas had to be awake for to communicate with Mehta and fellow operators.
![A man living with paralysis is once again able to feel sensations in his arm and hand with the help of a novel system that uses brain implants and artificial intelligence to turn his thoughts into electrical signals sent to his muscles and spinal cord. Those signals bypass the site of his injury and connect to patches on his neck and arm, restoring communication to and from his brain and restoring lasting movement and feeling.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/02-senseoftouch-1.jpg?w=1024)
![Keith Thomas underwent a 15 hour surgery to regain feeling in his hand after being paralyzed.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/keith-thomas-jr-gofundme-03.jpg?w=1024)
“The surgery had to go perfectly. There was no room for error,” Mehta added. “There’s only a method to get it right and one million ways to screw it up.”
Despite this, Thomas was left unfazed. Bennett said he was even cracking jokes while doctors went to work.
Upon the procedure’s unprecedented success and one week’s recovery — Thomas was particularly keen on the lamb chops at North Shore University Hospital — he was able to hold his sister’s hand for the primary time since his accident.
“It means a lot to me to have him have the ability to have a glimpse of independence,” Bennett said. “We take as a right what we could do, from brushing our teeth to taking a sip of water at any time when we wish. Just wiping away some mosquitoes on the south shore of the island.”
![Keith Thomas was able to hold his sister Michelle Bennett's hand and feel her touch after being paralyzed.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/01-keithsister.jpg?w=1024)
No person is more aware of this than the “pioneer” patient himself.
“It’s quite a protracted road to get to this point,” Thomas said, adding that he can now move his right arm to his face and the following goal is to brush his own teeth.
“I used to be crying like crazy.”
An evolutionary science
![Micro computers were implanted into Keith Thomas' brain to help him regain motion and feeling in his right arm after being paralyzed.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/09-keithimplants.jpg?w=1024)
Undoing the damning effects of paralysis shouldn’t be a feat that comes flippantly — nor was it feasible years ago.
Awe-inspiring recent reaches of AI made Thomas’ “literal, first of its kind,” double bypass brain implant possible. He’s now a model patient for what can only be described as revolutionary medical science.
“You’ve gotten a pc connected to your brain and you get feedback based on your personal thoughts,” said Bouton. “That causes what we call plasticity within the brain. Plasticity is the important thing [resolve] to many, many conditions and movement disorders like MS — having the ability to train and reshape the brain and the spinal cord on this case.”
Mehta definitely had his work cut out to achieve this. Planting minuscule-size electrodes right into a live human brain is considered one of medicine’s tougher procedures.
![Dr. Ashesh Mehta successfully completed an incredibly complex micro surgery to give a paralyzed man the ability to move and feel again.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/06-mehtasurgery.jpg?w=1024)
“Imagine an 8 by 10 sheet of paper and you’ve got to place a dot right in the midst of it,” he said. “It can’t be one millimeter come what may way.”
With every thing in the correct neuro-location, Thomas is now getting situated with the minute computers in his head. He spends two to three days every week in specialized training sessions to adjust, according to his doctor.
“It’s a two-way street, because not only is he training the machines however the machines are training him,” said Mehta. “When he plugs into the computers, they develop into a part of him. We’re learning about this technology through Keith and that broadens the scope.”
![Keith Thomas' revolutionary procedure opens the door to groundbreaking medical treatments that could repair blindness and ALS.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/00-researcherskeith.jpg?w=1024)
In the future for this reason individual, neurological “rewiring,” Thomas might even walk again, blind people could see and the deaf could hear, his medical team agrees.
“You can do more movements and you can start to feel more. So yes, I feel this [breakthrough is] happening now,” Bouton said. “The sky’s the limit.”