Amanda Boxtel puts her best foot forward

Eighteen years ago, a skiing accident at Snowmass rendered Amanda Boxtel paralyzed from the waist down. Last weekend, with the help of crutches and a spotter, she walked onto a stage in Texas.

Placing one foot in front of the other, Boxtel gleefully squealed: “I'm doing it!”

Boxtel, a resident of Basalt and co-founder of the Challenge Aspen nonprofit organization, has become a model and spokesperson for an exoskeleton lower extremity gait system that goes by its acronym eLEGS. The system, developed in Berkley, Calif., is a takeoff of a military application called Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) that allows soldiers to carry heavy equipment over extreme terrain.

A company called Berkley Bionics has taken the technology from the HULC robotic system, licensed to Lockheed Martin, and made it available to the 6 million or so U.S. residents who suffer paralysis. The company teamed up with the University of California, Berkley, to build the human augmentation robotics system, which consists of a battery in a backpack, metal leg casings, sensors and a computer.

“To take my first step in the eLEGS was just astounding because I bent my knee for the first time in 18 years,” Boxtel says in an eLEGS video. “I placed my heel on the ground, then I transferred my weight, then I took another step and another one. And it was so natural and that's what really gripped me.”

Standing 5 feet, 7 inches tall, Boxtel — who also has undergone extensive stem-cell treatments in India that can't be done in the United States — says she can feel blood flowing through her legs again.

“I'm not meant to be in my wheelchair sitting down and rolling. I want to be tall in my body, to walk on sidewalks, to walk in restaurants but, most importantly, to walk in nature,” Boxtel says. “This isn't a wave of the future; eLEGS is happening right now. I don't have to be hopeful. This is reality.”

So real, in fact, that Boxtel is walking across stages all over America promoting eLEGS, which are scheduled for clinical trials in 2011 at select locations. They are expected to retail for around $100,000. Over time, Berkley Bionics makers say they hope to offer a lighter and less-expensive contraption.

Boxtel adds that the technology is especially exciting for people who are newly injured as they may be able to retain their muscle memory before atrophy begins to occur. It also could prevent digestive and poor circulation problems that can result from spending a prolonged period relying on a wheelchair.

“So many people say the first thing they encounter after an injury or an amputation is the word no. … We are demonstrating here there is no such word as no,” Berkley Bionics CEO Eythor Bende said.

One out of every 50 Americans reportedly suffers from paralysis. To use eLEGS, paraplegics must be physically fit, between 5 feet, 2 inches and 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weigh 220 pounds or fewer.

River Name / Location	Stream flow, ft3/s	Gage height ft
Gore Creek
At Upper Station, Near I-70 Twin Bridges	n/a	4 ft
Booth Creek	n/a	4 ft
Abv Red Sandstone Creek At Vail	182	6 ft
At Mouth Near Minturn	223	7 ft
Beaver Creek
At Avon	21	2 ft
Lake Creek
Near Edwards	80	1 ft
Cross Creek
Near Minturn	100	4 ft
Homestake Creek
At Gold Park	127	5 ft
Eagle River
East Fork Eagle River Near Climax	n/a	2 ft
At Red Cliff	30	3 ft
Near Minturn	234	4 ft
Wastewater Treatment Plant At Avon	675	5 ft
Below Gypsum	826	5 ft
Colorado River
Near Kremmling	404	4 ft
Near Dotsero	1,630	3 ft
Below Glenwood Springs	3,140	5 ft
Near Cameo	3,740	6 ft
Below Grand Valley Div Nr Palisade	2,080	5 ft
Near Colorado-utah State Line	4,120	4 ft
Near Cisco, Ut	4,060	3 ft
At Lees Ferry, Az	12,100	9 ft
Near Grand Canyon, Az	12,200	9 ft
Yuma Main Canal Ww At Yuma, Az	1,010	10 ft
Roaring Fork River
Abv Lost Man Cr Near Aspen	n/a	n/a ft
Ab Difficult C Nr Aspen	52	1 ft
Near Aspen	78	1 ft
Near Emma	480	6 ft
At Glenwood Springs	1,180	3 ft
Hunter Creek
Near Aspen	56	2 ft
At Aspen	48	4 ft
Frying Pan River
Near Ruedi	113	2 ft
Crystal River
Abv Avalanche Crk, Near Redstone	540	2 ft
Arkansas River
Ef Arkansas R At Us Highway 24, Nr Leadville	47	3 ft
Near Leadville	86	5 ft
Below Empire Gulch Near Malta	156	3 ft
Below Granite	429	4 ft
Near Nathrop	451	4 ft
At Parkdale	464	3 ft