Background
Background
Sherry Brady is a retired teacher who spent some summers being a teacher of teachers, providing professional development in Language Arts curriculum. After retiring and moving to San Diego, she worked with the Escondido Creek Conservancy teaching science to students through classroom lessons, live-insect labs, and guided naturalist hikes along Escondido Creek.
Wanting to address her symptomatic muscle tightness through stretching, she enrolled in a yoga teacher training program. Despite passing with a 97% score, she continues to practice yoga and still experiences difficulty releasing the deep interior muscles of her back and hip flexors. To remain deeply in touch with the signals of her body, she maintains a daily practice of eating electrolyte rich diet, exercising, meditating, and relaxing in the jacuzzi.
Sherry began to research and explore devices to improve walking. She experienced the Dnsys exoskeleton and was excited by how it displaced weight from the hips while it simultaneously lifed her thighs making walking so much easier. Sherry wanted to share these benefits with others. She became a Spastic Paraplegia Foundation Ambassador to support, connect with, and bring encouragement to others living with HSP.
She explored additional technologies—including the Mollii suit for whole-body spasticity and pain relief, and the Cionic Neural Sleeve to assist with walking, reduce foot drop, and help keep the legs active while sitting. Sherry wondered if using both of these electrical stimulations regularly was healthy- using the Mollii (every other day) and the CIONIC Neural Sleeves (daily). So, she asked a spasticity specialist. Dr. Ryan watched her walk with the CIONIC and said he could see her foot lifting when she walked. "The Mollii suit and the Cionic are great for you!" Sherry had Cryoneurolysis procedure in June. It improved her walk by: aligning her feet symmetrically, allowing better dorsilflexion, and
In early 2026, Sherry asked the Spastic Paraplegia Foundation if they could add user devices to their website. They said no because they are mainly about fundraising and awarding grant money for research for HSP/PLS. That is great because we eagerly need that! So, Sherry created this website to help navigate life with HSP. She used ideas from her lived experiences, along with insights from SPF TALKS, neuro physical therapy sessions, researching, and talking with doctors and HSPers to help create this website. It is a resource designed to support and connect others on their HSP journey towards more mobility. Dr. Hande Özdinler said, "Personalized healthcare is the future." After doing research, Sherry will trial out devices, track them, and if they are helpful report out here. So, to help strengthen this community's future, we encourage your sharing your local doctors' names and locations where they provide HSP-related treatments and surgeries in SD. We'd also love to hear about other devices and therapies that you have found helpful for freeing spasticity and/or aiding mobility.
Here is Anne's interview about her one person show Watch Me Walk. Dr. Ozdinler is my heroine!
It was a great time for building connections with others with HSP! Regina is a gem!
At the 2026 SPF Conference in St. Louis, Dr. Hande Ozdinler spoke about her research of upper motor neuron diseases here at minute 4. At her lab in Northwestern University, Chicago, Dr. Ozdinler is currently revealing the molecular mechanisms responsible for the vulnerability and progressive degeneration of upper motor neuron loss using models that display these. Dr. Ozdinler said that she thinks NU-9 will be the cure for all upper motor neuron diseases! Her talk is funny when she voices cells talking to each other! Watch it to see her gifted, entertaining, and wicked smart presentation!
Email address: hsp-sandiego@sonic.net
Keep going.
Keep moving in the ways you can.
Honor your body.
Stay curious.
Stay hopeful.
Progress is closer than it feels.