A Message from Buddy Marshall
A Message from Buddy MarshallFrom the moment I wake up in the morning until I fall asleep at night, I rely on assistive technology to live my life. As a TOPGUN instructor, I trained my fellow F-18 pilots using the advanced technology necessary to execute our mission. Four years after my spinal cord injury, I have learned to use assistive technology to conduct my personal mission: to live an independent and productive life.
Smart phones and computers enable most people to interact with their friends and family, feel connected to the world at large, and conduct business in the 21st century. To have those abilities ripped away in an instant is to feel powerless. That is the way I felt in the aftermath of my injury.
The beauty of assistive technology is that those basic abilities are restored, enabling functional independence and a return to normalcy. With your help, we will establish a dedicated resource center for inpatients at Magee that cuts short that sense of feeling lost and disconnected, setting all patients on a path toward independence and productivity.
Making the myriad of components work well together requires each individual to spend days, even months, doing research, struggling to learn what works for them, and enduring much trial and error. The Buddy Marshall Assistive Technology Center at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital will allow each individual to work side by side with their therapist to integrate the appropriate technologies into planning for their future. This is the time and the place. Without this opportunity, patients may never have the chance to see the possibilities which lie ahead.
I hope you will realize how important assistive technology is for individuals living with disabilities and the difference it can make in our lives. In closing, please join me and my family in making a gift today to help my vision become a reality for all of the patients at Magee that need our help.
Click here to make a gift today.
