With Aid of Machine, Brain Damaged Little Girl Tells Mother She Loves Her for the First Time
"It is mind-blowing really. We have gone from somebody not being able to communicate to this...It's going to change our lives completely."
(United Kingdom)—The Daily Mail reports that six-year-old girl Elke Wisbey, who was born brain-damaged and is severely handicapped, has been able to use a machine to tell her mother for the first time: 'I love you.'
The machine, bought with donations from their local community in Bearsted, Kent, is a MyTobii Smartbox from Sweden. It can reportedly detect which icons Elke is looking at by using tiny lasers and when her eyes settle on an icon on the screen of the Smartbox, a pre-programmed voice speaks the word or phrase for her. (Photo: Daily Mail)
According to the report, just a few days after setting up the equipment, Elke's parents, Glynnis and Matt Wisbey, described how their daughter started using her eyes to repeat the words 'I love you' over and over again.
Said Mrs. Wisbey: "I thought it was stuck and then I realized what she was saying. She was looking at the 'I love you' icon and I couldn't believe it, she kept doing it. 'I said to Elke 'are you telling Daddy you love him?' and she pointed at the icon 'yes.' It really choked me up, made me really emotional... It is mind-blowing really. We have gone from somebody not being able to communicate, to this."
"This will be amazing for us, absolutely phenomenal," she concluded. "It's going to change our lives completely."
