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WELCOME BACK. ONLY ON WLWT, A WOMAN WHOSE LIFE CHANGED FOREVER AFTER A DRUNK DRIVING CRASH IS NOW TAKING STEPS SHE ONCE THOUGHT MIGHT NEVER BE POSSIBLE AGAIN. BACK IN 2020, THIS WRECK KILLED HER BOYFRIEND AND LEFT HER PARALYZED. BUT NOW, THANKS TO DETERMINATION AND GROUNDBREAKING TECHNOLOGY, SHE IS LEARNING TO WALK AGAIN. AND WLWT NEWS 5 LINDSAY STONE SHARES HER INSPIRING STORY. SIX YEARS AGO, KATELYN WAS ALMOST KILLED IN A DRUNK DRIVING ACCIDENT THAT LEFT HER PARALYZED FROM THE WAIST DOWN. BUT TODAY, SHE’S STANDING TALL ONCE AGAIN. JUST FROM HOME. I DIDN’T REALLY KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON, AND SHE HAD INFORMED ME THAT MY BOYFRIEND, AUSTIN GIBBS, HAD DIED AND THAT I WAS NOW PARALYZED. AT JUST 19 YEARS OLD, KATELYN REYNOLDS SAYS THE GRIEF AND TRAUMA NEARLY CONSUMED HER. IT WAS A REALLY ROCKY TIME IN THE HOSPITAL. WE GOT TO GO HOME. I WASN’T DRIVING, WASN’T DOING ANYTHING. JUST AT THE HOUSE FOR A GOOD TWO YEARS, THEN DIDN’T LEAVE. BUT NOW, AFTER YEARS OF FIGHTING TO RECLAIM HER INDEPENDENCE. KATELYN IS STANDING AGAIN JUST WEST OF VERSAILLES, USING A ROBOTIC EXOSKELETON CALLED REWALK. SHE’S THE FIRST PATIENT IN OHIO TO USE THIS MODEL OF THE TO SEE HER STAND UP FOR THE FIRST TIME WAS AMAZING. TO BE EYE TO EYE FOR A VERY LONG THE DEVICE STRAPS AROUND HER LEGS AND TORSO, HELPING WALK STEP BY STEP THROUGH THERAPY SESSIONS THAT ONCE SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE. IT’S LITERALLY LIKE SOMETHING YOU SEE OUT OF A MOVIE, LIKE A ROBOT. EVERY LAP IS PROOF OF HOW FAR SHE’S COME. WHEN WE FIRST STARTED WITH THIS, WE WERE BARELY GOING FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS ROOM. NOW WE CAN DO TWO FULL LAPS AROUND THE WHOLE THERAPY ROOM, KATELYN SAYS. SURVIVING THE CRASH GAVE HER RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP LIVING FOR THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE HER, AND FOR THE MAN WHO NEVER GOT THE CHANCE. MY PURPOSE IS THAT I’M STILL HERE, YOU KNOW, LIVE FOR AUSTIN AND I GOT THE CHOICE TO LIVE. HE DIDN’T GET THAT CHOICE, SO IT WOULD BE UNFAIR TO ME TO TAKE MY LIFE NOW. WHEN HE DIDN’T, HE DIDN’T HAVE A CHOICE. NOW, SHE HOPES HER JOURNEY CAN INSPIRE OTHERS FACING LIFE AFTER DEVASTATING INJURIES. WELL, I HOPE SHE GOES TO COLLEGE, FINDS SOMETHING THAT SHE LOVES TO DO AND HELPS INSPIRE. YOU KNOW, PEOPLE THAT ARE NEWLY INJURED. AND FOR KATELYN, EVEN THE SMALLEST MOMENTS FEEL BIG AGAIN. SEEING PEOPLE EYE TO EYE, SEEING PEOPLE EYE TO EYE IS IS LIKE THAT WHEN REHABILITATION ENDS, KATELYN WILL GET TO KEEP THE REEBOK TECHNOLOGY, CONTINUING HER JOURNEY AND GIVING HER THAT SENS
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Survivor of drunk-driving crash learning to walk again with help of robotic legs
Kaitlin Reynolds, paralyzed in a 2020 drunk driving crash that killed her boyfriend, is reclaiming her independence with the help of a robotic exoskeleton called ReWalk. Six years ago, Reynolds was fighting for her life after a drunk driver crashed into her car, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. “Just waking up from a coma, I didn’t really know what’s going on. (They) had informed me that my boyfriend, Austin Gibbs, had died and that I was now paralyzed,” Reynolds said. At just 19 years old, Reynolds said the grief and trauma nearly consumed her. “It was a really rocky time in the hospital. We got to go home. I wasn’t driving, wasn’t doing anything. Just at the house for a good two years and didn’t leave,” she said. After years of fighting to reclaim her independence, Reynolds is standing tall again, one step at a time. She is the first patient to use this model of the ReWalk technology. “To see her stand up for the first time was amazing. To be eye to eye for a very long time,” said Candice Balser, Reynolds’ mother. The device straps around Reynolds’ legs and torso, helping her walk step-by-step through therapy sessions that once seemed impossible. “It’s literally like something you see out of a movie, like a robot,” Reynolds said. Every lap around the therapy room is proof of how far she has come. “When we first started with this, we were barely going from one side to the other side of this room. Now we can do two full laps around the whole therapy room,” Reynolds said. Reynolds said surviving the crash gave her a responsibility to keep living for the people who love her and for Gibbs, who never got the chance. “My purpose is that I’m still here, and I live for Austin. I got the choice to live. He didn’t get that choice. So it’d be unfair to me to take my life now when you didn’t have a choice,” she said. Balser hopes her daughter’s journey will inspire others facing life after devastating injuries. “Well, I hope she goes to college, find something that she loves to do and helps inspire, you know, people that are newly injured,” Balser said. When her rehabilitation is complete, Reynolds will get to keep the ReWalk technology, giving her the chance to continue her journey long after therapy ends.
Kaitlin Reynolds, paralyzed in a 2020 drunk driving crash that killed her boyfriend, is reclaiming her independence with the help of a robotic exoskeleton called ReWalk.
Six years ago, Reynolds was fighting for her life after a drunk driver crashed into her car, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.
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“Just waking up from a coma, I didn’t really know what’s going on. (They) had informed me that my boyfriend, Austin Gibbs, had died and that I was now paralyzed,” Reynolds said.
At just 19 years old, Reynolds said the grief and trauma nearly consumed her.
“It was a really rocky time in the hospital. We got to go home. I wasn’t driving, wasn’t doing anything. Just at the house for a good two years and didn’t leave,” she said.
After years of fighting to reclaim her independence, Reynolds is standing tall again, one step at a time. She is the first patient to use this model of the ReWalk technology.
“To see her stand up for the first time was amazing. To be eye to eye for a very long time,” said Candice Balser, Reynolds’ mother.
The device straps around Reynolds’ legs and torso, helping her walk step-by-step through therapy sessions that once seemed impossible.
“It’s literally like something you see out of a movie, like a robot,” Reynolds said.
Every lap around the therapy room is proof of how far she has come.
“When we first started with this, we were barely going from one side to the other side of this room. Now we can do two full laps around the whole therapy room,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds said surviving the crash gave her a responsibility to keep living for the people who love her and for Gibbs, who never got the chance.
“My purpose is that I’m still here, and I live for Austin. I got the choice to live. He didn’t get that choice. So it’d be unfair to me to take my life now when you didn’t have a choice,” she said.
Balser hopes her daughter’s journey will inspire others facing life after devastating injuries.
“Well, I hope she goes to college, find something that she loves to do and helps inspire, you know, people that are newly injured,” Balser said.
When her rehabilitation is complete, Reynolds will get to keep the ReWalk technology, giving her the chance to continue her journey long after therapy ends.
