In 2021, what started as a normal Memorial Day for Matt Kidd quickly turned into a life-changing emergency. While driving home from a family gathering, he suddenly felt something was wrong. “In the middle of driving, I’m thinking I was having a stroke — and I was actually having a stroke,” he said. The stroke paralyzed the left side of his body. For four years, he struggled through therapy with little progress. Then neurologists at UW Medicine invited him to join a clinical trial: a safety study of a device intended to reawaken damaged pathways in the brain. Led by neurosurgeon Dr. Jeffrey Ojemann and neural engineer Dr. Jeffrey Herron, the study is evaluating surgically implanted device that stimulates specific brain regions. “This device is a really important example of how all the investment in science … can drive innovation and innovative therapies,” Ojemann said. After surgery and six weeks of targeted stimulation, Kidd began regaining movement he hadn’t had in years. Herron said he was ecstatic that Matt was the study’s first participant. “I think the thing that has come down to -- what really matters is, frankly -- his attitude has just been wonderful,” Herron said. Now, after months with the device in his head, Kidd says it didn’t just restore movement; it has restored his hope for life.