Meet Todd Stabelfeldt. He's been using Tecla since February 2014. We asked Todd to share with us his thoughts since introducing Tecla to his everyday life.
On his first thoughts about Tecla:
"This is going to change everything. It’s a game-changer. This Tecla is off the hook.”
On his friend whom he introduced Tecla to:
“He’s a C2 quadriplegic and when I first met him he couldn’t talk. Everything was through his mom. And he’d never go outside because he was scared. Last summer he put over 1,000 miles on his wheelchair by himself because of his Tecla. Talk about a man being restored with dignity, right? And being a man; a man with a purpose. A man with respect. Give a man that and he’ll write books, make movies and solve wars.”
On his confidence and ability to communicate since using Tecla:
“My confidence was built around the durability of the product. It has a large battery. That’s great. I plug mine in. It always has to be working. I have a second one in my trunk of my wheelchair in the event this one fails. Because it’s now so important in my story. If the Tecla failed, I would be ruined. I have no way to communicate if the Tecla is not sound and pristine and cleaned and charged. So competence is built by demonstration. And Tecla has thoroughly demonstrated that the product is sound. So that’s a huge, huge deal.”
On his new interests and hobbies since using Tecla:
"I’ve been able to watch 14 other people explode with new activities (after introducing them to Tecla). Scrabba is an app that tracks your walking and running and bicycling. And I do that all through Switch Control. Same with my buddy who did the 1,000 miles last summer. So now you have quadriplegics out there moving around, driving around, using all these sort of cool apps to track progress. Pictures - now I can actually take pictures on my phone. That has actually been a lot of fun. What a world has opened in the space of independence and freedom. And being able to put me in a position of ‘normal.’”
On the greatest change he's seen in himself since using Tecla:
“A restoration. A man in progress. A man who deals in quality and integrity. A man who’s an artist. A lover. A friend. A dad. Dear god, did I ever think I would be a dad? No. I get to say, ‘hey Siri, tell my son: have you done your chores today? Tecla has given me the opportunity to be a human being. And to do life and to do life well. Tecla literally restored a human being’s life from depression, from drugs, from alcohol, from just absolute bottom of the barrel, given up on self, self-deprecating, butchering of one who never asked to be shot, who never asked to be disabled, who was a young, little 8-year-old boy, whose story in life got robbed because of an 11-year-old. Fast forward twenty-seven years - Tecla has made me a man.”
Visit the Todd Stabelfeldt Foundation to learn more about Todd's advocacy work for people with spinal cord injuries.
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