Hospital Zip line - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Hospital Zip line

  A new hospital tracking system is making a difference for patients of all sizes who need to be moved around a lot -- they're testing out one of the first ones at Texas Children's Hospital.

 However slowly, 15-year-old Casey Casilhas is progressing.

  Bobby Casilhas, Casey's Father:"The prognosis was she'd never be able to move again, since that time she started getting some movement on her right hand and then her right leg."

  But Casey is still a long ways away from returning to the tennis court, where as a sophomore, she played on the varsity team at Belton High School.

  Bobby Casilhas, Casey's Father: "I know that's going to be killing her laying there not being able to do that, and its tough on us also."

  Casey and her family have spent the last three months in this hospital room. After she had a tumor removed from her brain stem two weeks before Christmas.

  Helping Casey with her recovery? The new rehab gym down the hall... but the workouts weren't always that productive.

  Bobby Casilhas, Casey's Father: "Getting her into a chair, out of a chair, back into it, was just taking a lot out of her."

That was until staff perfected the use of one its newest tools... the overhead tracking system.

  Kristin Swan, Physical Therapist: "Here recently with the obesity problem we have a lot more kids that are bigger and we need more ways to transport them."

  The zip line as its called by patients and staff... eases movement in and out of rooms for patients of any size and the staff that used to lift them.

Kristin Swan, Physical Therapist: "Its so much less stressful on the patient and so they have better therapy sessions and they just progress a lot quicker."

  Bobby Casilhas, Casey's Father: "You can see her mood by how well she does in therapy, the better she does in there the happier she is."

  And while improvements may be subtle... given her initial outlook they're huge.

  Bobby Casilhas, Casey's Father: "I tell you, all the years I watched her on the tennis court and yelled at her for not moving fast enough, I don't think I saw anything as sweet as the first time she lifted her thumb up, you know to see just that little bit of movement was just so awesome."

  The zip line is as uplifting as all the cards, pictures, stuffed animals and Facebook support.

  Support that keeps Casey and her family hopeful that more progress is yet to come.

  Bobby Casilhas, Casey's Father: "I think there's no end to what she can do, she's a fighter, she wants to get back out on the courts again, I know she does."

@Casey's dad says he's confident there's no end to what his daughter can do, and new tools like the zip line will just help make it happen faster.