Foundation Recipient
Ray Berthold
Ray and his daughter before his diagnosis
Ray's Story
Ray got his start in the construction trades working part-time for Castle Ridge
Contracting in Huntington, New York while attending high school. He began
working for them full-time following his graduation, learning all phases of
carpentry. (Framing, sheet rock, installations, flooring, molding, kitchens,
bathrooms, electrical, plumbing and painting) His father was also in this field and
taught Ray many of the finer points of carpentry, electrical and mechanical
operations. After five years Ray opened his own construction business where he
continued for the next three years. His career then let him to another contracting
firm where he became involved in estimating, negotiating and inspecting
construction projects. By this time he had successfully completed three specialty
courses in construction at a local state university. Ray then married and in March
of 2014, his daughter was born. Life was looking very good.
On June 28, 2014 however, Ray woke up, unable to move from the waist down!
He was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with a spinal epidural abscess. A staph
infection had settled on his spinal cord, causing compression and an inability to
move. Emergency surgery followed, muscles surrounding the spinal cord were cut
and the abscess was removed along with spinal bone. The operation left him
paralyzed from the waist down. Since that time Ray has been undergoing physical
and occupational therapy where he is learning how to live independently in a
wheelchair, working hard to regain strength in his lower extremities.
Ray learned about the foundation through a friend of his who is also a paraplegic,
and he contacted the foundation in September to request a power assist device for
his manual wheelchair. This device, called a Smart Drive, will enable Ray to
navigate steep slopes and even take his daughter for walks. The foundation had not
heard of this device prior to Ray, it is yet another amazing piece of assistive
technology. This device allows one to navigate across thick grass, up steep hills and
over rough carpet that used to stop manual wheelchairs in their tracks. The device
is battery operated and last days on a single charge. Extremely easy to use, one
simply pushes to go and brakes to stop. Weighing only 11 pounds, this device is
simple to put on and take off.
Thanks to your generosity, the foundation was able to grant Ray's request!
Ray's sister has promised to take a video of him wheeling about with the Smart
Drive, and we will post a video of it on the foundation website.
Picture of manual wheelchair equipped with Smart Drive technology