Ray Berthold

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.

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.

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.