SAN ANTONIO — For those with Parkinson's disease or tremors, simple daily tasks can become a nightmare. But a product more than three years in the making is changing that.
"By the time I got to my 40s, I was as bad or worse than my father was when he was in his 60s," said John Kirkonnel who is talking about his tremors which have a huge impact on his life. We caught up with him on Skype recently. He told us, "It affects my hands. I have a severe tremor so I can show you here."
It drastically affects his ability to eat and drink. But not anymore. In comes this glove called the Steadi-One in which John Kirkonnel beta tested.
Mark Elias from Steadwear said, "It's a tremor stabilization glove for individuals with Parkinson's disease and essential tremors."
His company came up with the product through engineering. Elias added, "It's inspired by earthquake design. So my background is in civil engineering and I've learned to stabilize buildings against the wind earthquakes. So we actually were inspired by that concept, scaled it down and that's how the technology works."
For those who have bought the glove, they say their lives, which were full of frustration, have been drastically improved.
Kirkonnel told us, "Especially when you go out somewhere and you are sitting at a restaurant and you can notice people looking over at you because without the glove on, you are bent over trying to get the food to your mouth this way."
Elias added, "We have individuals that are going about their daily activities with significantly less frustration, mainly in eating, writing and drinking. We have users telling us that they no longer need to take their medication."
Kirkonnel said, "It's been a real game-changer for me."
You can find out more about the Steadi-One here.
