Though an implanted vagus nerve stimulator is already available, not every stroke patient is a candidate. For Tom, the risk of a second stroke during a surgery to implant the device was too high to chance, and for people who endure rare and remarkably dangerous hemorrhagic strokes, like patient Brooke Schmitt, the Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve the implant.

A young mother of two, Schmitt was only 36 years old when she suffered a stroke in 2021. Four years later, she still struggles with partial paralysis, but she is dedicated to recovering her mobility. “My fight is not over. I’ve tried a few different clinical trials — I’m determined that I’m not going to let this stroke win.”

Proactive and persistent, Schmitt and her parents, Shirley and Ralph Alexander, actively seek out novel therapies that may help her. When they learned about Dr. Hodics’ upcoming study, they chose to make a generous gift to cover the entirety of the remaining cost of the trial. Now, with the first phase drawing to a close, Dr. Hodics is highly encouraged by the results. “Before, patients with this level of impairment were deemed ‘unresponsive to treatment,’ but this study demonstrates they are indeed responsive. They just need a longer-term, more detailed and somewhat different intervention,” she says.

Schmitt adds, “When Dr. Hodics looked at my before-and-after data, she was on cloud nine.” Still on the road to full recovery, Schmitt is undaunted, saying, “I’m going to put 110% into this because I want it so badly.”