Upward Bound

	Jen takes Alan on a tour of the FES Center.

Searching for ways to stay healthy and strong, Jen tirelessly lobbied her insurance company to cover her use of an ERGYS bike, which uses surface electrodes to stimulate the muscles. Using the bike builds strength and cardiovascular fitness. As she researched the topic, she found out about FES, or 'functional electrical stimulation." FES uses electric impulses to contract the muscles on command, allowing someone like Jen to operate her own limbs via remote control. Jen's system helps her make "standing-transfers" into and out of her wheelchair.

Jen and her fiancé, Tim French, relocated from New Hampshire to Ohio so she could enroll in clinical trials at the Cleveland FES Center, a collaboration of the Cleveland VA Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University and MetroHealth Medical Center.

"I found the FES center, they mentioned that they were actively recruiting research projects, and the rest is history," recalls Penko.

Ten people have now received standing-transfer FES systems at the center. Jen was about to become one of them. On November 11th, 1999, a year and a half after the accident, Dr. John Davis implanted a total of eight electrodes into Jen's lower back, quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes. The surgery took more than seven hours.

"The anaesthetic was the worst part of it," Jen recalls.

	After activating the electrodes, Jen prepares to stand.

To prevent the electrodes from shifting, Jen had to remain completely still for the four weeks it took her body to heal. Because she retains sensation in her lower body, the healing process was extremely painful. But six weeks later, the portable computer control for her implanted electrodes was set up and ready to go. Jen's muscles were about to come back to life.

"It was really neat," says Jen, " to be able to look down at my muscles moving.
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