SCI Participant Statements

Hand Grasp for C5/C6 Tetraplegia

Holding a fork, writing without adaptive equipment, shaving in the morning, brushing and flossing his teeth at night. Eric Schremp, a 34-year old from Sheffield Lake Ohio, performs all these seemingly mundane tasks on his own thanks to the Cleveland FES Center

Schremp, who suffered a spinal cord injury in a pool accident in 1992, is a tetraplegic. In 1996, the Cleveland FES Center implanted the FREEHAND system in Schremp's right hand. The FDA-approved neuroprothesis sends electrical signals to Schremp's hand allowing it to open and close. More importantly, though, the system has given him a firm grasp on his independence and confidence. "When you're out in public, people see the wheelchair and stare. They see people doing things for you," says Schremp. "Now I can do those things for myself. People don't just see a wheelchair sitting there. They see a person."