Users' opinions

Alicja experienced an extensive stroke, which resulted in complete immobilization of her body – she showed no external signs of consciousness. According to the medical diagnosis, Alicja could not even move her eyes willfully. Her state was described as vegetative. Before the various surgical procedures, the doctors did not even want to anesthetize Alicja, claiming that she could not feel anything anyway.

After 7 years, Alicja was admitted to a neurological rehabilitation centre, where the C-Eye^® II PRO was used in the everyday work. Alicja’s husband felt that his wife’s condition was not as hopeless as the doctors claimed, and he believed that his wife would prove to everyone that she felt and understood what happened around her. During the first examination session Alicja made a simple but revolutionary gesture – she turned her head towards the C-Eye^® II PRO. The results of the following sessions were even more optimistic. Already during the 4th session Alicja was able to operate the device freely, and she completed all the tasks which were presented to her.

For Alicja’s husband the most convincing proof that his wife was fully conscious and that she felt and understood everything all the time was that, from the many different shoes presented on the screen, she chose with her eyes exactly those that she had bought the day before the stroke.

The final neurological diagnosis was: locked-in syndrome. Had it not been for the C-Eye^® II PRO, Alicja would still be considered a patient in a vegetative state.

Zbigniew is over 70 years old and suffers from advanced Parkinson’s disease and quadriplegia. He does not communicate verbally. He has to receive dopamin twice a day to keep his eyes open.

Despite his advanced age and severe illness, Zbigniew immediately took up using the C-Eye^® II PRO at an advanced level. After about 15 minutes of doing exercises he was communicating freely with the therapists. When his wife came in, he was able to communicate with her relatively freely for the first time in years, and he could express his emotions. It was very moving to see his first messages addressed to his wife: “I love you” and “I’m in love”, and to the C-Eye therapist: “Thank you”.

Kasia suffers from cerebral palsy. Before she received the device, she had been communicating by blinking and agreed facial expressions for “yes” and “no”. Currently Kasia is willing to perform all the exercises available in the system. Her favourite tasks are those which use colour images that represent reality.

Kasia communicates with others using fixed commands and pictures (pictograms). She chooses new challenges for herself and now wants to master writing with the virtual keyboard. At the moment, she slowly writes simple words, one letter after another.

According to Kasia’s parents, the C-Eye^® II is a dream device for which they waited for25 years.

A 27-year-old patient who overdosed drugs at the age of 16, which resulted in cardiac arrest. His condition was evaluated on the Barthel scale as 0 and on the Glasgow scale as 4. He undergoes constant physical rehabilitation. His physical condition is very good. During the first contact, he did not move his eyes.

At the first attempt, Rafał began working with the C-Eye^® II PRO after about one hour of eye training, which involved stimulating the ocular muscles with various visual-auditory stimuli (kitten, trumpet). The stimulation brought the desired effect, which was the activation of the patient’s ability to follow objects on the screen with his eyes.

At the second attempt, the patient did not show the will to work with the device for about 3 hours, probably due to weather conditions (low pressure, very rainy day). After about 3 hours the patient was left alone with a calibrated device and very quickly he surprised everyone. Moving about in the module “Communication and entertainment” he expressed, among others, the following feelings: “I’m furious,” “I miss my friends”, “I miss fun”, “I miss my old life”.

Evaluation of the patient’s condition after tests:

The patient is conscious, with severe dementia syndrome. He can read and recognize single words. He communicates well with the environment using the C-Eye^® II PRO.

Despite the diagnosis indicating that the patient could not see, in the rehabilitation centre it was observed that he was looking at the C-Eye^®II PRO, which was standing nearby. Initially, the patient was not able to focus his eyes on any displayed element and thus could not mark anything on the device. In spite of that, he participated in therapeutic sessions at least 3 times a week (session duration was 5-15 minutes), although he was not able to look at any displayed visual stimulus in the visual stimulation section.

After a month of working with the C-Eye^® II PRO, the patient was re-examined by an ophthalmologist, who stated that he could not see with either eye and questioned the sense of his participation in the C-Eye^® II PRO therapeutic sessions.

Thanks to the perseverance of the therapist cooperating with the family, the patient received glasses to compensate for a sight defect (which hehad before the accident) and from then on the patient attended the C-Eye^® II PRO sessions wearing glasses. After 4 months, the patient uses the C-Eye^® II PRO freely and is able to select individual elements displayed on the screen with a selection time of 1.6 seconds (which is a good result, as the recommended selection time for elements on the screen is 2 seconds). What is more, it turned out that he uses both eyes to communicate with the C-Eye^® II PRO.

According to the current ophthalmological diagnosis, the patient can see. It is a surprising fact, regarding the original diagnosis: disrupted optic nerves.

It is difficult to determine whether the patient was able to see from the beginning and was misdiagnosed, or whether it is due to regular exercise and visual stimulation. Most importantly, he is able to see and work with the C-Eye^® II PRO, participating in therapeutic sessions and using the C-Eye^® II PRO as a communication tool.

A post published by Pawełek’s mum:

“As you remember, for almost two years my parents have been looking for an answer to the question “Could I see or not?” Our last visit to a famous ophthalmologist in Cracow not only gave us no answer, but also discouraged us from further diagnostics. Coming back from Cracow, my parents decided that it was the end of searching, since no ophthalmologist was able to tell us anything – we were letting it go. We would follow our feelings… But it’s not like my mum to let go. She kept on searching, until she came across a shadow of a chance called C-Eye^® II. There’s no need to write much, just look outside the window: it’s cold as hell. But it did not stop us from packing and making the 450 km-long journey. 5 hours in the car at -20 °C is a real feat, but most importantly, a few moments after switching on the device we finally got the answer – I could see!!! I can see!!! My parent’s feelings were right. During the examination we got many answers, for which we had been searching for almost 2 years!!! Never give up!!! You have to fight. We will, and this year will belong to us.

On the video you can see how I work with the C-Eye^® II. The dot which appears and disappears on the monitor is the point where I focus my eyes. As you can see, I have a big problem focusing for a long time, but by practicing with Marta I was able to stroke the kitten. Bravo Me!!!

It is not the end of my adventure with the C-Eye^® II. Now I spent two days there, but we are planning to stay longer in the spring and do more exercises. There will be something going on!”

Bartek is a young, well-educated and intelligent boy. Three years ago he suffered a brain injury as a result of being hit by a car at a pedestrian crossing. When he came to the rehabilitation centre he did not show any signs of consciousness. His eye movement was severely disturbed. The first C-Eye^® II PRO sessions started with selecting only individual pictures, with the marking time set at 1.4 seconds. After a year of systematic work with the C-Eye^® II PRO, Bartek performs tasks correctly and communicates using the device. He has been using the virtual keyboard for some time now. Recently he communicated by typing on the keyboard “I want to go to the store”, “I want to buy a cool tracksuit”. The request was fulfilled and Bartek was very satisfied.

It is worth noting that the marking time is now 2.3 seconds, which indicates the proficiency in using the device. Bartek effectively communicates his needs and he chooses the music himself. He also attempted to read a book using the C-Eye^® II PRO. What is important, is that the C-Eye^® II PRO also significantly supports the speech therapy. Activation of the speech centre was observed, as Bartek often tries to articulate the sounds and syllables that appear on the screen.

During the 4 months in which my husband was hospitalized after the stroke, I thought there was no contact with him. However, work with the C-Eye^® II showed that he is aware of what goes on around him. Most importantly: he could communicate his emotions, fears and needs. And the “I LOVE YOU” shown by him gave me the strength to continue fighting against the disease.