Ad to air locally on WKYC during NBC Olympic coverage
As viewers across Northeast Ohio tune in to NBC to catch record-breaking events at the Paris Olympics, they also may catch a glimpse of life-changing research at Case Western Reserve.
In a 30-second ad airing on Cleveland’s WKYC throughout Olympics coverage, viewers will learn the story of Austin Beggin, a former high school athlete who was paralyzed during a diving accident in 2015. Nearly a decade later, Beggin has regained some movement, thanks to research led by A. Bolu Ajiboye, professor of biomedical engineering.
“We’re developing technology to restore movement and a sense of touch by reconnecting the hand and arm to the brain,” Ajiboye explains in the video, which was filmed at the MetroHealth Zubizarreta House.
Ajiboye’s work, which is done in collaboration with the Center for Functional Electrical Stimulation, Cleveland VA Medical Center and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Neurological Institute, was highlighted in spring 2023 by CBS 60 Minutes. It focuses on the development and control of brain-computer-interfaces, neuroprosthetic technologies to restore function to the nervous system after someone has suffered a spinal cord injury or stroke.
“If we keep pushing at this research,” Beggin said during an interview with CWRU, “I have total faith that we will find something that gives individuals like me a truly good quality of life with the most independence they can have.”
Though the movements Beggin can do are simple—opening and closing his hand, or shaking someone else’s—they’re incredibly powerful.
“Being able to shake my dad’s hand and make that human connection. … Something as small as [that] is such an incredible feeling,” he said. “Simple things feel so real again.”
Watch his story below, and tune in this weekend to see it on TV. The ad is scheduled to run:
- Friday, July 26, around 5:25 and 11:45 p.m.
- Saturday, July 27, just before 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 p.m.
- Sunday, July 28, around 11:05 p.m.
The ad will air daily throughout the duration of the Olympics, so tune in regularly to catch it live.