Jan's New IDEO!

The History

Jan riding on top of an airport
luggage trolly, one of the
many adaptations she made
during our year of travel

A number of our friends have asked to be kept up-to-date about recent efforts to address Jan's walking problems. As you may know, Jan had a significant injury to her foot at age 5. After several surgeries in her early years, she spent a life hiking, dancing, playing tennis, remodeling houses, and working as a nurse practitioner.

For reasons that are not clear (to either Jan or the professionals she has consulted), her ability to walk has dramatically decreased over the past several years. As she and Jim traveled around the world in 2013-2014, they became experts at life on a scooter (Jan riding and Jim hauling). Living in tiny apartments and exploring cities on the TravelScoot, Jan and Jim barely noticed that her ability to walk was declining so rapidly.

Most recently, Jan's mobility is restricted to shuffling around the house, getting down the short walkway to her car, and then getting "out in the world" on her scooter. Three surgeons in the last 18 months have recommended amputation; however, Jan could not find peace with this decision. And so Jim recently googled "alternative to amputation"--and discovered the IDEO brace.

This link led them to pursue this alternative path to walking. After applying and being accepted as an IDEO patient, Jan (and Jim) are now in Gig Harbor, WA (near Seattle), for an evaluation, and hopefully the creation of Jan's new IDEO! (See the "before" video, below, which we sent to the IDEO professionals.)