Forced to leave college and confined to bed by relentless phantom limb syndrome, Norick refused to give up hope. Today, seven weeks after Scrambler Therapy, he’s back to building the future he thought he had lost.
By any measure, 24-year-old Norick should be celebrating one of the most exciting chapters of his life.
Instead, he spent much of last year confined to bed.
The college student from Westchester County, New York, had already survived osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer that claimed his leg through an external hemipelvectomy in 2021. But while the cancer was gone, something even more relentless remained.
Phantom limb syndrome.
The sharp, stabbing and burning nerve pain that followed his amputation became so severe that it ultimately forced him to leave college in Boston, return home and put his life on hold.
From Surviving to Living
Today, just seven weeks after completing Scrambler Therapy with Clinical Director Dr. Jason Cooney, DC, at Scrambler Therapy NJ USA, Norick is pain-free.
He has reunited with friends, returned to volunteering, joined the New England Amputee Soccer Association, plans to complete his bachelor’s degree and is mentoring children living with limb loss/limb differences.
“I had years to figure out what I wanted to do if I could live without pain,” Norick says. “Now I’m actually getting to live it.”
For anyone living with phantom limb pain, his story offers something many people lose after years of suffering.
Hope.
When Cancer Wasn’t the End of the Battle
Most people assume the hardest part of losing a limb is the surgery itself.
For Norick, it was everything that followed.
Phantom limb syndrome occurs when the nervous system continues sending pain signals that appear to come from an amputated limb. Patients often describe sensations such as burning, stabbing, crushing, tingling or electrical shocks. Because the pain originates from abnormal nerve signaling rather than injured tissue, it can be extraordinarily difficult to treat.
For Norick, it became relentless.
When he arrived at Scrambler Therapy NJ, Dr. Jason Cooney documented constant, unremitting 10-out-of-10 phantom limb pain accompanied by 7-out-of-10 residual limb neuropathic pain. Norick described the pain as sharp, stabbing and burning.
The numbers told only part of the story.
“I was in my bed for most of the day,” Norick recalls.
“At one point, the last straw for me at college was when I had to go to the hospital because my pain level was beyond what I could manage.”
Near the end of November 2025, he made the painful decision to leave school and move back home.
“For nearly a year, I had no life at all once I moved back home,” he says. “I needed so many pain medications that they really rendered me pretty much unable to do anything.”
Instead of studying, spending time with friends or thinking about his future, every day became an exercise in enduring pain.
A Family’s Refusal to Stop Searching
Watching her son suffer was devastating for his mother, Hanako.
She had already watched Norick endure cancer, major surgery and rehabilitation. Now she found herself watching a different kind of battle—one few people truly understand.
She refused to believe there were no options left.
While researching online, Hanako discovered conversations about Scrambler Therapy in a Facebook support community for people living with arachnoiditis. She began reading everything she could find about the treatment and about Dr. Jason Cooney.
Eventually, she made the call that would change their lives.
Looking back, Hanako still struggles to find words that adequately describe the experience.
“Incredible, life-changing and ‘miraculous’ would be a few words to describe Scrambler Therapy and, more importantly, how wonderful, caring and supportive Dr. Jason Cooney is,” she later wrote in a public review. “Our son had severe nerve damage for many years and was bedridden for almost eight months. We lost hope until I found Dr. Cooney.”
She added, “He listened, explained everything well and was so kind. He went above and beyond to help.”
On social media, Hanako described watching her son scream in pain, wondering whether life would ever become normal again, and praying that somehow this treatment would succeed after so many disappointments.
When Hope Would Not Be Defeated
Many people living with chronic pain become understandably skeptical after years of failed treatments.
Norick chose a different perspective.
“Even through my darkest days, I was willing to try anything that would help give me back my life and not make me debilitated,” he says.
“When my mother told me about Scrambler Therapy, I didn’t feel cynical. I felt a sense of hope.”
His expectations remained grounded.
“I figured the worst thing that could happen to me is that it would not work.”
That simple mindset allowed him to begin treatment with cautious optimism.
Dr. Cooney says Norick’s condition represented one of the most difficult forms of chronic neuropathic pain seen in clinical practice.
“Phantom limb syndrome presents a unique challenge because the pain persists even though the limb is no longer there,” Dr. Cooney explains. “The nervous system continues transmitting abnormal pain signals, which is why conventional treatments often fail to provide lasting relief. Our goal with Scrambler Therapy is to retrain those pain pathways by delivering non-pain information to the brain over a series of treatments.”
“As I continued through the treatments with Dr. Cooney, I started to recognize gradual pain reduction,” he says.
“As the treatments continued, my pain reduction lasted for a longer period of time.”
By his 10th treatment, his residual limb pain had completely resolved and his phantom limb pain had fallen dramatically to just 2/3 out of 10, after five long years of suffering.
After completing 13 Scrambler Therapy treatments, something happened that Norick had not experienced in five long years–the nerve pain did not return.
“I don’t even have words to describe how happy I was.”
Norick’s Future Turns a Corner
After five years of pain, Norick wasn’t thinking about celebrating. He was thinking about everything he wanted to reclaim that he had missed.
“When I got home after therapy, the first thing I did was go to Boston and see my friends for the Fourth of July,” he says. “It was honestly an event I thought maybe would never happen for me again.”
For someone who had spent months confined to bed, surrounded by uncertainty, it represented far more than a holiday weekend.
It represented freedom.
Seven weeks after completing treatment, his calendar looks remarkably different than it did just a few months ago.
Norick recently volunteered at Camp No Limits at Quinnipiac University, where he worked alongside physical therapy and occupational therapy students, helping children and families facing many of the same challenges he experienced.
Even after four physically demanding days of camp activities, his pain has not returned.
“I have mobilized and resumed my life very quickly,” he says.
Later this summer, Norick plans to serve as a mentor at another Camp No Limits in Maryland, where he will be paired with a family/child with a limb loss/limb difference, offering encouragement, practical guidance and support throughout their stay.
Life 2.0
Norick recently joined the New England Amputee Soccer Association, giving him the opportunity to return to competitive sports.
Additionally, he began volunteering with another community service, the SPCA Westchester, fulfilling his desire to help unwanted pets in his county.
“It has been a very long five years, and this all feels fantastic.”
This fall, Norick plans to resume working toward his bachelor’s degree in business administration through online coursework. He is just over one year away from graduating.
His future career choice isn’t surprising.
“My goal is to go into healthcare administration,” he says. “I’m definitely an expert on healthcare at this point.”
He laughs as he says it, but the statement carries the wisdom of someone who has spent years navigating surgeries, specialists, rehabilitation and chronic pain.
More importantly, he is finally able to think about the future instead of simply trying to survive each day.
“I had many months and years to figure out what I wanted to do if I could live without pain,” he says. “Now I’m actually getting to live it.”
Physical and Mental Healing
Living with chronic phantom limb syndrome changed Norick in ways that extended far beyond physical pain.
Finding relief changed him just as profoundly.
“While the physical relief has been monumental, it has also helped me mentally to become more positive, more hopeful and just feel happy and social again,” he says. “It’s amazing how quickly you can feel better once you are living a life without so much pain.”
Norick
His mother has witnessed that transformation firsthand.
The young man who once spent months isolated in bed is now traveling, volunteering, mentoring children, returning to school and planning to play competitive soccer again.
For Hanako, that recovery has been every bit as meaningful as seeing the pain disappear.
A Message to Other Phantom Limb Warriors
Norick knows there are others living with phantom limb syndrome who may feel as though they have exhausted every available treatment.
He understands that feeling.
He also wants them to know not to give up.
“Don’t give up hope no matter what,” he says. “I spent years in bed thinking that this would never get better.”
“Just stay positive and believe there is an answer for you, no matter what.”
More Than a Pain Score
For Dr. Jason Cooney, Norick’s success represents something far greater than reducing a pain score.
“Our goal is never simply to lower a patient’s pain score,” says Dr. Cooney. “It’s to help people reclaim the parts of life chronic pain has taken away. Watching Norick return to his friends, volunteer with children living with limb differences, prepare to finish college and return to soccer has been incredibly rewarding.”
He also hopes Norick’s willingness to share his story reaches others who may believe there are no options left.
“I’m grateful to Norick and Hanako for allowing us to share their journey. Phantom limb syndrome can be incredibly isolating, and many patients begin to lose hope after years of unsuccessful treatments,” notes Dr. Cooney.
“If Norick’s experience encourages someone else to seek help and explore whether Scrambler Therapy may be appropriate for them, then sharing his story has already made a difference.”
If Phantom Limb Pain Is Controlling Your Life
Phantom limb syndrome is one of the most challenging forms of chronic neuropathic pain, but it doesn’t always have to define your future.
If you or someone you love is living with phantom limb pain after an amputation, schedule a consultation with Dr. Jason Cooney at Scrambler Therapy NJ USA to learn whether Scrambler Therapy may be an appropriate treatment option.
Every patient’s condition is unique, and an evaluation is the first step toward understanding the options available.
