It’s 5 AM, May 26, 1989. Dr. Marshall snaps out of bed, an emergency call:
“ — Doctors at Joliet hospital — two bullet holes in a man’s heart — last-ditch effort to save his life.”
Dr. Marshall is rushed to a waiting helicopter.
“Tony” Hairston of Joliet was shot twice at close range, an argument over missing property:
“Surgeons find two holes in his heart but can’t stop the bleeding. — ”
Dr. Marshall arrives within 23 minutes and jumps into action. She quickly finds a hole in front of Hairston’s heart, one in back. They fly back to Loyola as Dr. Marshall uses two fingers to plug the back holes and right thumb to stop up the front.
“When the heart stopped, I kept my fingers in the holes and squeezed my left hand against the right.”
She pumps the pulse back into his heart over and over as paramedic Adams forces Hairston to breathe, squeezing a bag attached to a tube shoved down his trachea.
They arrive and Doctors Sullivan and Lewis are alerted. Hairston is placed on a machine that circulates his blood while his heart is repaired. He lives. “It was dramatic,” says Adams, bewildered:
“She was so calm. She just let us know what to do — we did our part. …”
“Unprecedented, nobody has ever been transferred with a finger better,” says Dr. Lewis.
“You’ve got blood pressure — you go for it.”
That’s Dr. Marshal, she goes for it.
28 years and countless lifesaving stories later, Dr. Marshall retires her medical license; neurocognitive decline. Alzheimers is like that. A lifetime of stories that fade into the grey.
Her story hits me hard. How would I handle that news? It strikes a chord, much like Sandy’s story, when his key note address crushes:
“If a foreign body were to come and take 700,000 lives away from us this year, US Citizens, we would call it an all out act of war! Yet this happens with Alzheimers and other dementias over and over, every year, and it keeps growing.”
5.5 million people live with dementia in the US, over 15 million caregivers, and the over 50 million living with dementia world wide and about 150 million caregivers. Every 4 seconds someone gets diagnosed.
Sandy Halperin doesn’t pull a punch, he speaks from the heart, no spin or hyperbole, and not tonight with who’s in the room.
The Ellen and Senator William Proxmire Awards, a high honor in the dementia space.
LeadingAge and Integrace host the event, a who’s-who of influencers, 650+: CEOs, policy makers, senators, congress persons, advocates, and experts living with dementia, activists and care givers.
Previous Proxmire recipients include Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, First Lady, Rosalynn Carter, Mark K. Shriver, Glen Campbell (Official) for the film, Glen Campbell I’ll Be Me.
Sandy and Dr. Sanjay Gupta are honored for their CNN, produced series Sandy’s Story.
“What are we doing right now to enhance the lives of those living with dementia and their caregivers? Are we doing our best? Are we doing everything we can to help?”
Of the top 10 incurable diseases supported through funds from our government, Alzheimer’s is the most underfunded, but it’s also the fastest growing.
Do yourself a favor, learn about someone’s dementia story.
For three years I have challenged myself and decided to get inside the bubble, rather than look inside a dementia experience from the comfort of my bubble.
Once you’re inside the bubble, looking at the world outside, your perspective is clearer; it’s not that different after all. I got in Sandy’s bubble, he got in mine too. I love him and I am proud to be a care provider for him.
“I’m holding in my hand a baton. I’m placing it on this lectern. My advocacy days are coming to an end so I ask you, will you pick up this baton and run with it?”
I leave the Proxmire Award, brass baton in hand, and I’ve been running with it ever since.
“Being a startup founder is hard. But not as hard as living with dementia,” I think to myself.
I began my dementia journey wanting to help people living with Alzheimer’s because it’s in my wheelhouse. Because I’ve lost loved ones to it. I’ve seen how hard care can be; care takes its toll too. I’ve prayed a rosary to ease fear, I’ve consoled loved ones.
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over it became a butterfly. You’re all butterflies. I see all of us living with dementia as being butterflies and on the day that the White House Conference on Aging convenes, I dream of seeing millions of butterflies, millions flying over the White House; we butterflies will turn the sky purple.” ~Sandy Halperin
I’m the founder of WindowMirror and we are making Butterfly. And I want you to understand that the foundation for this platform is person-centered care. We got in the bubble. We built through the lens of the dementia experience. We are making an experience that is intuitive and engaging for everyone.
“It all started with love and care and wanting to help people living with dementia.”
We’ve been on a startup journey, now in our third year. We’ve gone from pitching, to MVP, to prototype, and have travelled around the country engaging, learning, growing our story.
This past December I had a meeting with Chris Hill, an Angel Investor and Founder/CEO of Chicago startup Perkspot. Chris was moved by our efforts to support those living with dementia but suggested we expand our scope. I took it to heart. It was a genuine insight.
That evening Dr. Jill Green and I had a discussion about the Chris Hill meeting and thoughts on scope. Jill sees Butterfly helping her capture memories of her children. Working in an ER gives you little time to sit and write down your memories. When she get’s home, it’s a different feeling, the story isn’t as vivid. Isn’t inspired.
I then spoke with musician and face of reverb.com, Joe George. I asked Joe, “If you could capture lyrics, in text, that you’re singing, would you?” — he loved it. The conversation evolved.
Within 48 hours our new website launched.
Within a week of reflection, research, and many hours of writing, a White Paper landed on the homepage with a value proposition that has accelerated into exciting new conversations and new funding.
Butterfly is a hands-free content creation platform. Butterfly will be packed with plug and play AI bots, that enhance your creative experience. It’s everything.
It’s saving a life, plugging holes in a heart. It’s a key note with passion, no punches pulled. It’s a startup story. It’s a mother wanting to journal stories of her kids, a musician wanting lyrics in text. It’s a CEO currently using the Butterfly Beta to create this article and publish it on Steemit .
Because these stories are worth sharing, this content is worth creating, and we look forward to sharing Butterfly with you.
