FIRST PERSON | I have over come two life stopping disabilities. I was born in 1949 with Holt Oram Syndrome, an inherited genetic flaw. The entire right side of my body is smaller in bone structure and the organs are smaller or missing. In the 1950s three experimental surgeries were performed to make my hand useful. I was a human guinea pig. My parents raised me as a normal child expecting me to do all the things that my brothers and sisters did. At 12, I delivered papers for the Oakland Press and then for the Detroit Free Press. At 15, I worked for Champs Hamburgers in Waterford, Mich. When the manager, Bill Wilson, went to work for Burger King in Pontiac, Mich., I again was privileged to work under him.
I faced many ups and downs, discrimination and hatred, But instead of letting these naysayers destroy me, they tempered and galvanized my spirit to succeed over impossible odds.
I learned to be a mechanic and eventually owned an automotive and truck repair shop, Mr. Muffler in Walled Lake, Mich. In 2001, I was crushed on the left side of my body in my repair facility, between the front end of a truck and the concrete wall in the back of the shop. I endured many years of surgeries and therapy to rebuild my left leg, left shoulder and fuse the bottom half of my back. I worked hard to rehabilitate myself. I went from a nursing home to living on my own. Because of my formative years I knew that I could pick myself up again. You can cry boo-hoo and feel sorry for yourself or you can get up off your pity pot and succeed.
If it had not been for the trauma-one unit at Beaumont hospital at 13 and Woodward, I would not have survived. I would leave the hospital with a cane and a reacher-grabber. Without a thumb on the right-hand I could not work the grabber. If I switch the cane to the right hand my arm was too short to support me. Then the realization came that if I did make these two items work, my hands are already full and I can’t pick up anything anyway. I have invented many items to overcome my disability. My mind was again put to the test and I invented Grab-A-Cane. Grab-A-Cane is the only dual-use cane on the market today. It is a cane for stability and a reacher-grabber allowing you to pick up things off the floor while maintaining a firm grip on the cane. Grab-A-Cane provides jobs for Americans. It is a made in Michigan product. All parts are made or purchased from American manufacturers. Assembly of the canes is outsourced to nonprofit workshops that provide jobs for the physically and mentally challenged. The nonprofit workshops also provide jobs for the non-physically and mentally challenged as they provide training and assistance to those who are.
When Grab-A-Cane is successful, I will set up a nonprofit to provide college funding to those born with Holt Oram Syndrome.
As a reward to myself, I purchased a 96 Honda rebel motorcycle. In 2011 I passed the road test and received my motorcycle endorsement.
Never tell me that I can’t, because I will show you that I can.