U.S. Air Force Capt. Anthony Simone was the co-pilot of an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter on June 9, 2010. Deployed to Afghanistan's Helmand Province with the 66th Rescue Squadron, he was on a rescue mission to pick up wounded British soldiers when his helicopter was shot down. He was one of two survivors of the resulting crash, but he suffered a traumatic brain injury. Simone had to relearn how to talk and walk.
For a long time, his movement was restricted to a wheelchair or scooter. His wife was pushing him in that wheelchair one day when they saw the Zeen, a mobility device that allows its user to sit, stand and even walk upright. They had to try one, and sure enough, Simone was able to move his own body.
"Tony -- and our family -- is forever going to be affected by what happened to him," Andrea Simone said in a video produced by the creators. "It's going to be a lifelong journey. ... I like that he can move his own body, that he can get himself from Point A to B."
"It just brings so much more dignity back into a person's life," Rick Sherak, CEO of Exokinetics, maker of the Zeen, told Military.com. "Once people get in it and start using it, they no longer have to look at the world from table height, looking up at everyone all the time. They can, but they can also sit at a standing height or just stand."
Sherak is also a former Air Force officer, but he left the active-duty military intelligence world in 1992 to enter the health-care industry. Specifically, he worked in medical diagnostics and medical engineering. He came to Pennsylvania-based Exokinetics in 2024, excited to share the Zeen with the military community.
"It's so different than anything on the market because people with mobility issues, they're either put in wheelchairs -- and if you're not using your legs, they'll just atrophy -- or they put 'em in walkers. Those things are so dangerous," Sherak said.
The Zeen looks like a complicated, full-body wheelchair, but is basically a saddle designed around four agile wheels. A specially designed gas spring assists the user in sitting or standing and allows for walking or coasting with a seatbelt to minimize any risks of falling.
"As long as you're in the device, even if your hands go up in the air and you trip and your feet go up in the air, the device will hold you because it's supporting you through that big seat," Sherak said. "It supports you through your hips and your buttocks area, so it gives you just this fall prevention that you can't beat."
"Just to exercise, I'll go 50 feet one way and then 50 feet back," Simone said in the same video. "So that's a hundred feet and I know it doesn't sound like much, but when the alternative is not walking at all, then you need to go walk."
"As long as people have the utility of their legs, even if they're super weak, and they've been in a wheelchair for years, they can do it," said Sherak. "But they also have to have determination to stick with it, because they're engaging those muscles again and it can be difficult. That's why we do so well in the vet community, because vets, for the most part, are pretty tough, and when they have endurance or strength or balance issues and they want to use their body, they just don't want to sit on an electric scooter or a wheelchair."
The Zeen is the brainchild of inventor and filmmaker Garrett Brown, whose inventions include the Oscar-winning Steadicam, and whose films include "Rocky," "Return of the Jedi" and "Casino." The Steadicam rightly earned him a spot in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2013 for changing the way we all watch movies forever. The Zeen, however, might soon change a lot of veteran lives.
The device is designed for people suffering from spinal injuries, PTSD, Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis, but is also ideal for mobility issues around aging and, as Capt. Anthony Simone discovered, combat-related injuries.
Sherak and Exokinetics have submitted the necessary applications to get the Zeen into the Department of Veterans Affairs Federal Supply Schedule, opening easy access to VA health-care sites everywhere, but that's just a business deal. The device is in the VA equipment list and is available now. The company is currently providing training sessions at VA medical centers across the country.
Veterans who think a Zeen might be right for them can get one through the VA right now; they just have to ask their VA doctor or physical therapist. Sherak says veterans who are interested in the Zeen should first check out the device's website and then reach out to the company to get some details.
"We have daily webinars they can sign up for," he said. "We have live demonstrations. I say the best thing to do is call. You get one of our people; they're the best people in the world to talk to. They'll talk to the person about what their abilities are, what their capabilities are and let 'em know what's the minimum physicality you have to have to use the Zeen."
The device is registered with the Food and Drug Administration as a Class 1, 510(k)-exempt device, which means the FDA does not believe it poses a significant injury risk. It has been third-party tested to support up to 250 pounds, but is currently being tested for higher weights. Disabled veterans interested in finding out whether a Zeen is right for them can visit GoZeen.com to learn more or call the company at (833) 367-9336 to talk to one of the company's mobility experts for details and help getting one through the VA.
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