In late August 2005, I was discharged from the hospital and
was scheduled to head back to my home in Covington, LA - which
is a half hour north of New Orleans - when Hurricane Katrina
hit. All flights into New Orleans were cancelled and my wife
and I ended up staying in a hotel in Tampa for three weeks.
Watching everything unfold on television along with the rest
of the country, I wondered what life would be like when I
returned home - both as a result of Katrina's aftermath as
well as the fact that I was now in a wheelchair.
When I returned home, there were lots of downed trees,
piles of rubble, debris and everything else you could possibly
imagine. Luckily, my home wasn't destroyed, but I know many
people whose homes suffered severe damage from the storm.
Afterward, I spent a few months in a manual wheelchair in
Covington and continued to talk to people about the iBOT®
4000. It was around that time that I spoke with
representatives from the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, a
group that provides financial support for injured marines. The
organization does a tremendous amount to help Marines like me
with problems that they face after they are injured. I really
can't say enough about all of the great things they did for
me. I told them about the iBOT® and the effect it would have
on my life and they immediately agreed to get it for
me.
Since I received the iBOT® in September 2006, I can say
that it definitely has had a large impact on my life.
My home in Covington is fairly rural and in the past, it
was pretty much impossible to move through my 2 ¼ acre yard
with a manual wheelchair due to the yard's elevations and
bumps. Let me tell you, as soon as I got the iBOT® I went
through my whole yard to go to the places that I couldn't get
to before with my other wheelchair.
Before I was injured, my wife and I used to travel to New
Orleans a lot for dinner and entertainment. After I was hurt,
a lot of times we would want to go to a place, but couldn't
because the place didn't have a ramp. Now, with the iBOT®, I
have the ability to go wherever I want, when I want. We're
definitely planning to spend a whole lot more time enjoying
the City of New Orleans now that I have the iBOT® 4000.
The iBOT® is also helping me to live out my life long
dreams of becoming a chef. After I returned home from my first
deployment in Iraq in July 2003, I attended a culinary school.
I've worked in the restaurant business for most of my life and
knew that I always wanted to be involved in it. I was about to
start my last class when my reserve unit was activated for its
second deployment in Iraq in January 2005. After I was injured
in Iraq on May 17th, I wondered if I would ever go back to
culinary school. Now that I have the iBOT® 4000, I know I'll
be able to … simply because of the fact that I'll be able to
access one of my classes, which is located in the basement of
a building that doesn't have an elevator. Now with the iBOT®,
I can get down to the basement class to learn more about
baking pastries.
In the future, I'm definitely expecting the iBOT® to help
me when I'm a chef at a New Orleans restaurant. With the
iBOT®, I'll be more independently efficient in the kitchen as
I can get that extra height to grab ingredients off the
shelves. While I and a lot of other people with disabilities
could be a chef if they have a manual wheelchair, I believe
being in the iBOT® 4000 will enable me to literally move up
and excel in the restaurant
business.
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