Game Changer – American Express Open Forum

A huge pause as I read a note from a players parent this morning.

“Coach Horton originally recruited Clif  for his O-Line scholarship at Boston College. Thanks Coach! You changed my son’s life. We are praying for you.”

Then I read and re-read again.   “You changed my son’s life.”

Some in athletics (and the greater world of life) think that because Don has Parkinson’s (or someone has a disability) it diminishes his (or their) abilities, passion and effectiveness on and off the field (job).  I will always take umbrage to that.  In every locker-room that I have ever stood in, there are signs of perseverance and motivation.  Don (and all who have disabilities) is a living day example of those true testaments.

Overlooking someone because they have a disability is the lowest display of power.

MagnaReady was selected as a American Express Open Forum – Game Changer.  We help people improve their daily living experience BUT I am lucky and proud to share with my children that their father, Don Horton, changed lives.

Game Changer
-by Carla Turchetti

Website: www.MagnaReady.com

What She Does: Horton has designed and brought to market a line of men’s dress shirts that have magnets infused into the buttons. This makes it easier for those with diseases, disabilities or injuries to dress themselves in professional wear. “We are a company with innovative solutions for limited mobility apparel,” Horton says.

How She Started: Horton’s journey to create her first shirt was a very personal one. Her husband, Don, a former football coach for North Carolina State University, has Parkinson’s Disease. After one game, he was in the locker room and had difficulty buttoning his shirt—one of his players, Russell Willson, now a quarterback with the Seattle Seahawks, had to button it for him.

“He was embarrassed,” Horton says. “There aren’t many things with Parkinson’s that I can help him with, but this is one challenge I decided to take on.”

Why She’s a Game Changer: After hearing about that locker room incident, Horton ordered other shirts to see if she could find something that worked for her husband.

“They just didn’t meet my standards,” Horton says. And after carefully looking over the available options, mostly with hook and loop closures, Horton called on her background in design to create something she would like better.

“I had always been interested in design and I noticed that the tech world was turning to magnets,” Horton says. Inspired by tablet covers and purses with magnetic closures, she created a dress shirt with magnets as well. She had to find the perfect magnetic strength that made it easy enough to open and close but strong enough to keep the shirt fastened.

What’s Next: Thanks to the success of MagnaReady shirts, the company is about to add more products this summer.

“The outcry for women’s apparel is huge and we are about to launch that,” Horton says. “We have secured the patent rights for hospital patient gowns and we are going to debut children’s coats.”

RELATED: Game Changer: Creating a More Life-Like Prosthetic Foot

The idea for the children’s coats was also born of Horton’s family experiences. After struggles bundling up toddlers for blustery Northeastern winter days, she wanted to simply design something to make life easier.

Advice for Other Entrepreneurs: “Mentoring has been huge to me,” Horton says. After stepping away from the design world to raise her children and then diving back in with the launch of MagnaReady, Horton says she relied on advice from other professionals across other industries. “It’s good to be able to run things by other people,” Horton says.

And she has one other piece of advice: “Don’t ever give up.”

Meet more ambitious entrepreneurs in our Game Changers series.

 

James Brown, Russell Wilson, Johnny Bench and Don Horton- Real Life – Real People – Real Solution

Watch! http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50150438n

Thank you James Brown, Russell Wilson and Johnny Bench

Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, college football coach Don Horton struggled to button his shirt after a football game. The situation inspired his wife to start MagnaReady, a company that makes shirts that are buttoned by magnets. James Brown reports on how the shirts are helping people with disabilities.

MagnaReady and FOX News – Jonathan Serrie

Jonathan Serrie sporting MagnaReady

MagnaReady with FOX News and Jonathan Serrie

Magnetic shirts offer independence to people with disabilities

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/07/04/magnetic-shirts-offer-independence-to-people-with-disabilities/#ixzz2Y6cCvO7s

They say necessity is the mother of invention. And in the case of former NC State Football Coach Don Horton, it was a desire to maintain independence while living with Parkinson’s disease that inspired his wife to come up with an entrepreneurial solution.

Maura Horton is CEO of “MagnaReady,” a line of dress shirts embedded with magnets so that the wearer doesn’t have to fumble with buttons.

She says the inspiration came four years ago when her husband returned from a game feeling embarrassed. The disease had affected his hand movement so much that he had to ask one of his players to button his shirt.

“It was humbling,” Coach Horton said.

The conversation spurred Maura Horton into action.

“There were a lot of challenges or changes he might have been going through that I couldn’t help,” she said. “But that was one I thought I would try to get to the bottom of it.”

She used her skills as a former children’s clothing designer to create high-end shirts with buttons, and button holes, that were purely decorative. “Buttoning” the shirts is as simple as lining up the magnets and hearing them click.

“They made a tremendous amount of difference,” Coach Horton said. “Having the confidence to get done what you’ve got to get done and what you want to wear.”

More recently, Don Horton stopped wearing magnets to avoid interference with a pacemaker-like device he received to deliver electronic stimulation to his brain. But the deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy has improved his mobility and he is once again able to button conventional shirts.

Meanwhile, Maura Horton, who started selling her “MagnaReady” shirts online in January, has seen her home-based office flooded with orders — not only for people living with Parkinson’s, but arthritis, stroke and even war injuries.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/07/04/magnetic-shirts-offer-independence-to-people-with-disabilities/#ixzz2Y6afgEER

Annals Of Long Term Care Review

Thank you Annals Of Long-Term Care for the product spotlight!

Annals Of Long-Term Care Product Spotlight

When Pigasso Met Mootisse – Mother’s Day

We are being besieged with print, television and corny radio ads recommending the best mothers day gifts to buy for 2013. My two are actually singing marketing jingles! Not to mention the flurry of media encouraging you that it’s not too late to send that special something to your mom. Equation: fed ex + you = happy mom. Top trending treasures this year, according to the Huffington Post, are a collection of perfumes, spa packages and home-made coupons. My children generally gift me the wonderful treat of breakfast in bed AND an explosion of their remnants in the kitchen. So when I attempt to wipe the dripping bacon grease from the knobs of my oven, I will look around and take in the vision of the real mothers day gifts my kids have made and we have preserved, framed and collected over time. Our very own exclusive art gallery. My youngest (5) recently took a session of classes on Henri Matisse. When our children were born into a competitive sporting world my main focus had always been balance. What better way to soften the edge of competition than the beauty of art.

Hadley channeling her inner Matisse

These treasures litter my breakfast nook, bonus room and anywhere else I spend the majority of my day. Hadley’s teacher requested a family field trip this year. Temporarily housed in the Nasher Museum Of Art At Duke University was a collection of Matisse’s work and the modern masters, compiled together from the Cone Sisters. Prior to attending the exhibit we added to our library list for the week, children’s books on Matisse. Knowledge is power. They had a couple of great ones.

When Pigasso Met Mootisse

A Bird or Two: A Story About Henri Matisse

On the back of one book was a quote, that even if I had read it a hundred times, I only seemed to absorb it just this one reading. It said:

What I had to do, I did – the best I could – Henri Matisse 1869-1954

Libby Interpreting Picasso – 2013

Libby’s Matisse Inspiration 2008

Dear Girls,

Thank you for the gifts, your inner beauty and the heavenliness you create. It is something I treasure and in the end…..what I had to do, I did, the best I could is my offering back to you. I value you more than a Matisse masterpiece.

Love,

Mom

The Beginning Of Letting Go

Spring is developing into wonderful anxiously awaited season, with great things in bloom.  My bloodshot eyes and continual runny nose can attest to its arrival.  Spring means different things to many.  In our life, it had always involved spring football with a culmination at the end a “spring game”.  This is the first time in 30 plus years -24 that I have been part of, that we haven’t attended one.  Knowing how important to Don this tradition is, we started planning. Even if from the sidelines, he would like to watch, this is food for his soul.  The plans were to voyage to Boston, a place we fondly called home, to watch the BC Eagles take the field under their new leadership.  Then the unfathomable traumatic events occurred and we thought better than to travel.  With the devastation that was besieged on this great community we started to place in prospective our simple feelings of wants and looked at the greater city and people’s needs.  Moments of prayers followed as we watched and listened to the events unfold, while being in constant contact with our friends that remain there and then we cheered at the conclusion. The Boston College spring game was cancelled, as it should be, but we witnessed an unplanned game, of good vs evil and goodness won!

Mrs. Debby’s Balloon Release

Life changes all around us, whether we want or are open to it, or not.  My youngest daughters beloved preschool teacher passed away from breast cancer at a very early age.  How to explain the loss to a 5-year-old child, I thought, was going to be difficult. This was the second teacher / friend we had lost to cancer in a short period of time.   A collective group of mothers decided to have a balloon release ceremony to help the children let go physically of something, say a prayer, watch the balloon rise, disappear into a greater place and trust in life again. The kids held on securely to their balloons as they each said something special about Mrs. Debby and then, it was time to say goodbye.  As the release happened, I slowly looked around.  The adults with tears, myself included, but each child had a grin so wide it was hard not to feel their sense of trust, that in letting go, everything will be ok.

It was with wonderment I watched Hadley.  Inspiring to me.  Helping me believe that there was a time when we / I were free to accept change.  We ALL make adjustments in life and have to accept new realities, whatever that may be and for us, now, that includes no spring football.  It’s not just a game but it’s been a way of life that we are letting go of.  I  believe it hurts Don to his core and for those of us who witness his inner sadness, it is difficult. There are different ways to experience loss and nothing can compare to the tragic way the people of Boston are grieving, but I do believe that living with a disease is its own form of loss.   As an adult I wish I had the ability to let go of something, truly release it, and not hold on, as my 5-year-old does. I am re-learning.

Support Groups And Swings

My oldest daughter despises swings.  Her face turns a ghostly shade of white at mere push.  It’s always been that way.  I remember our first outing to a neighborhood park in Boston.  She was approximately 6 months old.  I was so happy and proud, bow in hair and camera ready to capture the fun and a wide toothless smile.  I placed her in the black baby swing.  I began the count down 3….2…1.. pushed ……camera posed to shoot and….. instead of delight, I witnessed sheer panic, followed by tears and screams.  This couldn’t be! I quickly scooped her up, held her, and tried again.  What child doesn’t like a swing? Maybe my build up was too much.  As if in lather and repeat, I tried and kept trying.  Smaller pushes each time and still the same reaction.  The walk home was like a walk of shame.  We had a classic case of park failure.  I called Don disappointedly and relayed the news.  As par for course, his practical reaction – “well guess there isn’t a need to purchase playground equipment for the back yard.”

Over the years we, meaning I, periodically kept trying  and at some point in her life she decided she would throw me a bone and stay on for a second, then declare that it was “high enough” and be done.  Now when she goes with friends and they run for the swings, she pretends.  I watch her hop on and barely ever do her feet leave the ground.

EXCEPT for one special time of year, with one special friend.  All bets are off on this day!  In the fall, at our local church they hold a fair fundraiser and they have flying swings.  Our first trip there was with a dear school friend and her family.  Immediately, I crossed it off the list as something we did not need tickets for but my mouth dropped in surprise when Libby said she and Ashley wanted to do “it”.  “The swings?” I asked.  “Yes mom, the swings.”   I then proceeded to lecture that they wont stop the ride in the middle just for her.  The response, “no mom, I’ve got it.”  Rolling with the punches, I watched her get on by herself and then the count down began 3….2…1…..liftoff ensued…….camera ready and this is what I captured.

Sheer delight, but even better than that, simple friendship. I am not sure who extended the hand first but the important part was that both hands found each other.  We continue to go back every fall, together, and I think it’s the only time that Libby will open herself up for a special ride.

That’s how I view support groups and not just Parkinson’s specific support groups.  I’ve been asked several times; do we belong to any or if I have recommendations for such.  My answer is, it is hard to find just the right one.  Continue trying because someday your feet will leave the ground.  Someday, you will know when you have found a safe place to share.  It will be when you reach out to hold someones hand for support and they will be there to not only receive it but, not let go until the ride is over.

Spring Break With Michael J Fox

Parkinson’s Awareness Month means just that…Be Aware.  Aware that many people are fighting to find a cure, several are securing funding for the possibility of relief, droves are digging in to promote education, treasured people are teaching how to live fully with the diagnosis and umpteen individuals are empowering acceptance.

My eldest brother and his family, traveled recently to Los Angeles to assist The Ohio State University Buckeyes basketball team in their quest to make it from their Sweet Sixteen standing to the goal of NCAA champions.  He sent me a text – no words -just this picture.

LA with Michael J Fox

I quickly showed it to my girls (ages 5 & 10) and their faces lit up like fireworks.  Not many people under the age of 20 really can say they know the film works of Michael J Fox.  This had nothing to do with Marty McFly.  “Awesome” Libby exclaimed.  Hadley said “lucky” and wanted to know if they had met him. At that moment, they didn’t feel alone.  Their awareness helped my girls feel accepted.  Happy that their 10 and 13-year-old cousins would extend a silent hand to say not only do we understand but we are here to support you.  It says we stand beside you, with you and in kid language, we have your back.

Thank you Mike and Beth.  Awareness can be small simple gestures too.

Coming Out Party!! Parkinson’s Awareness Month

Parkinson’s Awareness

April is National Parkinson’s Awareness month. Our second official “out- open and proud” month. We had been living in a secluded world of don’t ask, don’t tell.  Making the announcement or declaration that you have Parkinson’s currently comes with as many side effects as the medicines Parkinson’s patients take on a daily basis.  At the core of every tremor or rigid movement is sleeplessness of how the disease will manifest, trepidation of being shunned, fear of ignorance and terror of loosing a job. The worry is endless.

Do you agree?

Our angst stemmed from living and working in a sports arena where the environment is much like Tiger Woods and Nike’s new ad which states, “winning takes care of everything”.  We spoke soon after our diagnosis with an attorney friend in Boston who recommended Don notify his employer and as to anyone else, well, that was up to us.  So we took his advice. Don told Tom. We told our parents and then asked them to respect our privacy and keep it to themselves. They honored our requests.  We lived our lives.  Challenges came up- as did questions.  I was always amazed by our true friends- because they never asked. Not that they didn’t care- it’s just that they knew if we needed to talk about it- we would.  They didn’t need whatever was happening to us to be defined.

I remember being at our first NC State bowl game. We were at a kickoff  luncheon and a coaches wife, that was new to Tom’s staff, asked Don brashly- in front of boosters and alumni- what was wrong with his arm? and would it (infer he) ever be “normal”? Both Don and I witnessed her husband kick her under the table, as if to tell her to shut up but her ignorance was already on display. Don simply answered, no.  We never felt the need to explain.  Other times, people would inquire and we would say he had had a stroke. Who cares what it was.  If you were asking, most likely, we knew you were already judging.

I’ve read many peoples personal stories of their Parkinson’s coming out party- not telling- revealing to some or just simply confirming but July 2nd, 2012  is a news day I will remember.   Bill Geist, CBS Sunday reporter announced via a video message that he had been dealing with and hiding from his Parkinson’s diagnosis. “I told no one. Not even my kids.” For 10 years he and his wife lived with this secret.  He says “he didn’t want to be known as the sick guy” and that for “personal reasons he was afraid he would get laid off or wouldn’t get promoted”.  When he was asked whether it was a difficult decision to come out this way.  His answer, was simply, “a very difficult decision”.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57465578/bill-geist-parkinsons-revelation-very-difficult/

Someday, I hope Don will speak to how he felt about informing the people he cared for that his life would be forever different. More importantly I hope he speaks about keeping it inside for so long.  We went to great lengths pretending not to have this disease. It started by just refusing to let it control us but at some point it changed into something more. We began planning recreational things around “good” times of day, avoiding certain social situations where it may be an issue, donning sunglasses when he could to disguise the blank look that many Parkinson’s suffers have, being sensitive to Dons low voice and helping him repeat himself, always sensing when it was time to go. The list goes on an on.  Hiding the disease became a full-time job in itself.

Why do people cry?

When I “came clean” to a select few, all I remember were tears.  I couldn’t stop crying.  I couldn’t believe I had held it in for so long and even after all the time that had transpired, I still couldn’t believe it was our reality. It was as if verbalizing the diagnosis finally made it true.  As a caregiver you often see how people respond and internalize things.  We often see it all and in that “all”, I realized that the fears that kept us from disclosing it were happening whether we were forthcoming or not.  I can report, all of our angst and trepidation came as true as a Disney trip to the Magic Castle. It’s as if Cinderella waived her wand and voila, but it all happened, regardless of the way we chose to handle it. 

Big Week!

This is a big week in the Horton house! Our oldest child turned 10! Landmark of double digits! We officially have a “tenager” in our midsts. As per usual, she asked probing questions of the day she was born- what time EXACTLY? what did we do the night before? when did she crawl? did she cry a lot? what were her first words? when did she get her first tooth? and do we still have the clothes she wore home from the hospital?  Somehow, I do remember most of the details without consulting her Bible – aka baby book.  We peruse a few photo albums where we thought it necessary to document every expression.  But there’s one photo that has always catapulted to the top of my list of favorites.  It’s a simple giclee black and white picture of just Libby and I.  Her side profile precious. Her curly locks of hair naturally flowing, with a bow of course and an innocent loving smile on her face.  It resides on my neatly cluttered desk. I often look at it and instantaneously I have a grin on my face.

18 Months Libby and Me

It seems even more appropriate to me this week, as we launch MagnaReady on a larger scale.  I can’t help but draw inspiration from this photo.  It’s just a mother and daughter sharing a tender moment and doing something we all take for granted – buttoning.  Something so insignificant to most of us, that is until you or your loved one are unable to do it on their own.

So here’s to 10!  Here’s to MagnaReady! and here’s to the beginning of independence!