Arlyne became a quadriplegic due to a motor vehicle accident in 1989, resulting in her having a spinal cord injury at the C1-C2 level.
Arlyne found out about diaphragm pacers from Dr. Quioto. She was then implanted with the Avery Diaphragm Pacemaker in 1993 by Dr. Michael Turner.
In her spare time Arlyne is very active in her church and she goes out with friends and family after church on Sundays. She was even able to sing with the ladies’ ensemble.
On how the pacer has changed her life, Arlyne says, “I do more things that ‘normal’ people do, and even go golfing and dancing. You have to make the most out of life. You can’t be boring. I can do more things now that I am not connected to a machine. It is more freeing and less worrisome of kinks in the hoses, or alarms going off. It is very liberating.” She also says, “The [Avery] pacer changed my life tremendously, from being on the ventilator 24/7, and always worrying about power outages or running out of time on the battery life, it is fabulous.”
Source: ABD-PP-037, Rev A 12/2020
