‘Watch Me’
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Certain events during a person’s life are associated with walking: walking down the
aisle at a wedding or across a stage to receive a diploma.
Mary Beth Davis, a zoology graduate from Oklahoma State University, never really
gave those events much thought until a car accident four years ago left her paralyzed
from the waist down.
Doctors told Davis and her family that she might have to change her career plans
and that she may never walk again.
“I’m always up for a challenge and I challenge myself personally all the time,” Davis
says. “If somebody tells me, hey, you can’t do something, I’m going to be like, ‘Watch
me.’ ”
And watch they did.
On May 10, Davis defied her doctors’ prognosis by graduating as a pre-vet major,
and with the use of an Ekso Bionic Suit, she walked across the stage in Gallagher-Iba
Arena and received her diploma.
Aug. 27, 2010, was the Friday of the first week of fall classes. Davis was in her
first semester at OSU in Stillwater, after transferring from OSU-OKC.
Driving home to Guthrie, she went off the road slightly, overcorrected and flipped
her truck.
At the hospital, Davis and her family were told she had broken the C6 and C7 vertebrae
in her neck and had also bruised her spinal cord. The road to recovery was going to
be a long one, but Davis knew she could not give up.
In the beginning, Davis had to have help with most everything. Once she was able
to get out of bed and participate in therapy more frequently, she became stronger.
Strong enough that the following spring, Davis re-enrolled at OSU, taking one physiology
class. The first day of class was an adjustment, but returning was a familiar and
welcome feeling.
“After the first five minutes after lecture started, it felt normal, you know,” Davis
says. “I was taking notes, I was listening, and you just kind of forget about your
injury for a little bit while the class is going on.”
Davis was determined to keep moving forward, describing herself as having always
been a student who loves learning and being in class. Because she knew she wanted
to go to veterinary school before her injury, it helped her to stay focused on that
goal.
Davis was exposed to the Ekso Bionic Suit when the Integris Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation
Center in Oklahoma City received the suit as a donation from the Chickasaw Nation.
The Jim Thorpe Center is the only rehab center in Oklahoma that has one of these suits.
When INTEGRIS received the suit, the center’s director and her former therapist believed
Davis would be the perfect candidate to use it. With support from the Jim Thorpe Center,
Davis strapped herself into Murphy, the suit’s Robocopinspired nickname, and began
learning how to work with the suit to start walking.
“It really is actually pretty straightforward,” Davis says. “We were at Deer Creek
Middle School demonstrating it for engineer classes, and it’s pretty easy to explain.”
The Ekso Bionic Suit works by using a series of simple motors, straps, remotes, and
Davis’s own weight-shifting abilities. A backpack on the back of the suit stores all
the suit’s programs, including ones specific to Davis. After the first step is initiated
through remote, Davis takes over by shifting the weight in her torso signaling to
the suit that she is ready to take the next step. The program makes sure she’s in
the right position and then obliges her body’s request to move forward.
Davis gets a lot of questions when people see her using the suit. She doesn’t mind
all the questions, but one thing she really wants to emphasize to curious minds is
that the suit has an impressive list of health benefits for its users.
Some of those health benefits include improved core stability, increased bone density
from weight-bearing activity, improved circulation, a better digestive system and
improved mental and emotional well-being.
On top of being a college graduate and Ekso Bionic Suit aficionado, Davis is also
the 2014 Miss Wheelchair Oklahoma. Her winning platform involved her studies at OSU
as a nutritional science minor.
Davis says a lot of focus for individuals who use wheelchairs typically surrounds
accessibility, ADA requirements, and disability rights. Using the knowledge she learned
in her nutritional science courses, Davis promotes health and nutrition as a goal
for the disabled community.
“It was a really unique platform to advocate,” Davis says. “Ultimately, I’m trying
to get people healthier. It can improve their lives and their disability.”
Davis is taking a year off after graduating and will apply to the OSU School of Veterinary
Medicine to start classes in fall 2015. During this year, she will perform her duties
as Miss Wheelchair Oklahoma, speaking at seminars and support groups and advocating
her platform. She also will continue extensive therapy in Dallas.
Davis’s road to recovery has been long yet rewarding. The support of her family and
friends and her faith have played a large role in her personal success. She can’t
imagine herself doing anything different than what she’s doing now.
“You either waste an opportunity or make the most of the it,” Davis says. “And this
is what I’ve chosen to do with this new life.”
Story By Jame Hadwin