Custom Air Force One

Vet's a miracle walker

He's taking off on his own two feet.

A retired paraplegic Air Force pilot is taking baby steps across the Bronx VA Hospital with the help of a specially fitted exoskeleton suit called the ReWalk.

"The first time I saw myself walk on video, I said, 'Wow,' " said Lt. Ian James Brown, who has been paralyzed from the chest down since 2002 and is the first military man to test the device.

Brown was driving back to Hanscom Air Force base in Bedford, Mass., in 2002 when he wrecked his motorcycle. The crash paralyzed him from the chest down.

"When I was a baby, I learned to walk when I was 7 months old," the 34-year-old said.

He's a novice walker again.

When Brown uses the ReWalk, his legs are fitted in custom braces with moveable joints. He uses his muscular arms to hoist himself upright on crutches.

Then, by tapping a mode on the ReWalk's wristwatch control -- sit, stand, walk, ascend -- he does what was once unthinkable.

The wristwatch signals a computer inside a backpack Brown wears and moves the Terminator-like joints. He must lean his body at an angle to trigger a sensor in the hip area, follow step cadence and balance himself on crutches.

It takes a lot of patience, practice and coordination. Two helpers stand next to him to help -- one spotting him and the other selecting a mobility mode. "The very first time I stood up, I realized this is going to take some work," Brown said.

He began his wobbly walking lessons in April. VA spinal-cord-injury doctors expect he'll master the machine by the end of summer.

The New Jersey resident commutes to the Kingsbridge Heights facility three times a week to work with the $90,000 device created by Israeli company Argo. Its inventor, a quadriplegic, expects to roll out cheaper versions next year for home use.

Since waking up from a two-month-long coma in a Boston hospital, Borown has taken life in stride.

"I had all the bad news at once. My fiancée left me. I was tragically injured and I had to pick a new career," he said, while standing on his own two feet.

"It all hit and I took it with a grain of salt because you can't change any of the circumstances of your life," he said.

How the ReWalk works

* Wristwatch: The control device has five modes: sit-to-stand, walk, ascend, descend, and stand-to-sit.

* Tilt sensor: This component in the suit’s hip area measures the angle of the user’s posture and sends a signal to a computer.

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