Robotic legs and supreme effort help Bríd take her first steps

SUSPENDED in a harness and strapped to robotic legs, Bríd Courtney experiences a sensation commonplace to most of us, but singular to her.

For just the second time in her six short years, she is walking. To experience this motion, she must travel from Ardfert in Co Kerry to the First Step Rehabilitation Centre in Patrickswell, Co Limerick, a round trip of approximately 200km. Her grandfather Paud Murphy has brought her to the clinic.

In a family familiar with superhuman effort – Paud’s wife Margaret represented Ireland in the pentathlon in the Munich Olympics in 1972 – Bríd’s is the greatest. Born with cerebral palsy, she is severely physically handicapped and in normal circumstances would never experience walking. The Lokomat, an automated intensive locomotion therapy machine, has given her this opportunity.