"A treatment is offering hope for millions of patients with sleep apnea https a disorder that causes people to stop breathing when theyre asleep. An estimated  million Americans suffer from sleep apnea putting them at greater risk for diabetes heart disease stroke and memory loss. Patients who are older overweight and male are generally most atrisk reports CBS News correspondent David Begnaud.  I wasnt breathin. I wasnt getting the correct amount of oxygen. My thought process had gone said Peggy Siravo. Her memory got so bad her family thought she had dementia. Exhausted the yearold could barely do her job as a nurse  and she knew something wasnt right.  I knew I was in trouble Siravo said. Siravo has severe obstructive sleep apnea where her throat muscles relax blocking her airway and disrupting her sleep. On average she stops breathing  times an hour thats nearly once every minute during a nights sleep. She said on a night she could be up four hours and sleep two.  She did not find relief from the CPAP machine a common treatment that delivers constant pressurized air. She even needed oxygen on top of that.  And then that didnt work. Thats when they introduced me to Inspire and saved my life Siravo said.  Inspire is an FDAapproved pacemakerlike device https implanted in the chest. It senses when breathing slows down and sends an electrical pulse to the tongue to stimulate it forward keeping the airway open.   This has been revolutionary. Its been a game changer Dr. Maurits Boon said. He is Siravos doctor at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.  Shed given up. And she had memory issues she was miserable Boon said. This is not a benign disease it actually shortens peoples lives. A few months after having the Inspire device implanted Siravo went to a sleep lab to see how it was working. They ran tests throughout the night. Early the next morning Boon revealed the results.  So before we activated the device we have all sorts of problems This is basically your brain saying Im not breathing.  And after we activate the device its perfect Boon explained. Look at your oxygen. Nice stable flat line staying around  percent. So this is good as it gets. Okay Siravo said. And as far as Im concerned this is a cure. This is awesome Boon said. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that  percent of patients experienced less sleep apnea after getting the implant.  For years all Siravo and her husband David wanted was a good nights rest  and now theyre finally getting it. Every night Siravo turns on the implant before heading to bed.  Whats it like to sleep now Begnaud asked. Great. Turn myself on. I go to sleep Siravo said. And then I get up. And I turn myself off. And I have a normal day like you and everybody else. Doesnt work for everybody. But man it worked for you Begnaud said. It sure did. It saved my life Siravo said. Inspire is not for everyone. Its only for moderate to severe cases and like any surgery there is risk of infection. For Siravo she said her memory is back to  percent. The device costs around  not including the surgery."