Boy, 10, becomes youngest to get breathing device tested by Reeve

With the device, he can breathe on his own as he is weaned off his ventilator.

CLEVELAND (AP) — A 10-year-old boy paralyzed in a car crash underwent surgery Friday to become the youngest person to receive a breathing device tested on the late “Superman” actor Christopher Reeve, a hospital said.

The implantable device allows paralyzed patients to breathe without a ventilator by electrically stimulating the muscles and nerves that run through the body’s diaphragm.

Friday’s surgery on Alex Malarkey at University Hospitals Case Western Reserve Medical Center lasted about an hour. The device was then tested and adjusted for about 30 minutes.

The boy took strong breaths for about five minutes before returning to the ventilator and going into recovery, said Dr. Raymond Onders, who performed the surgery. Alex and his parents, Kevin and Beth Malarkey, from the small central Ohio town of Huntsville, were to receive training in using the device today.

“We’re thrilled,” said Kevin Malarkey. “He hasn’t breathed on his own in over four years, and so we were concerned. They told me that they put that electrode on and they saw his chest rise, and he wasn’t on the vent. It was a strong breath.”

Onders said the boy will gradually be weaned off the ventilator while increasing the time he is able to breathe without it. The device also should help him use his sense of smell, which is inhibited by a ventilator.

Reeve, who was also under Onders’ care, tested the device about five years ago. The Food and Drug Administration in June approved it for use on adults and gave the Cleveland hospital special permission for Malarkey’s surgery.

Onders said the two previous youngest patients were both 17, and the procedures were done in Atlanta and Houston.

Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down in a horseback riding accident in 1995. He died in 2004 after developing a bloodstream infection from a bedsore.

Alex, a fifth-grader, and the oldest of four siblings, said his brother Aaron is a big Superman fan. But Alex’s hero is the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, and he cherishes an autographed picture of the quarterback from Findlay.

“He had a motorcycle accident and came back from that to play football. I want to be like that,” Alex said.

In a recovery room after the procedure, Alex was calm and unemotional, until the conversation turned to the Steelers.

“I wear my Steelers shirt and have my [Steelers] blanket every Sunday,” Alex said. “If the Steelers have Big Ben, they’re definitely going to win the Super Bowl.”

His expectations for his new breathing device are more modest.

“I want to breathe and that’s all. I’d like to smell a bowl of spaghetti, that and meat and mashed potatoes, and I want some gravy,” he said.

The device, developed by Synapse Biomedical Inc. of Oberlin, allows some spinal cord injury patients to breathe for at least a few hours each day without a ventilator. But Onders said some patients have gotten completely off ventilation.

Alex’s parents said they first sought the FDA’s consent for his surgery 31‚Ñ2 years ago. They received approval last summer and had been waiting since for a surgery date.

“There were a lot of hoops to jump through. Yes, it’s been a waiting game,” said Beth Malarkey.

Alex was paralyzed from the neck down after a car crash ion 2004, the day after the Malarkeys’ youngest son, Ryan, was born. Kevin Malarkey had taken Alex to church, and they were on their way home when they crashed at a rural intersection.