Dashaway

Detailed Testimonials

Dr. Hart Cohen, M.D.

“Stanley Dashew has been my patient since 2004. At the time of his initial evaluation, Stan was exhibiting many signs of Parkinson’s disease and experienced acute bouts of back pain, which he had experienced for over ten years. His musculature was extremely rigid, and he was having trouble standing from a chair.

Being an inventor, Stanley Dashew took it upon himself to find a solution to his troubles. With the help of his Exercise Physiologist, Charles Blount, he developed a brand new technology to improve his condition. They called it the Dashaway. In March of 2006, after experiencing a long bout of back pain due to spinal stenosis and a previous laminectomy surgery, Stanley fell and fractured his hip. Through a transformation brought on by the Dashaway, he has made a remarkable and astonishing recovery. In a recent evaluation on March 17th, 2007 I observed that his Parkinson’s is milder and, most notably, he is functioning remarkably well without pain. He gets up from a chair without assistance or depending on a cane and he ambulates very well using the Dashaway.

In my practice, I have never encountered a mobility tool designed to make the patient better. I see many applications in such diseases as Multiple Sclerosis. This new system not only stabilizes the patient while walking, keeping them in an upright and neutral posture, but they can perform exercises that strengthen the hip, back, upper body and cardiovascular system. In my opinion, the Dashaway is the most encouraging mobility and exercise tool available.”

Dr. Hart Cohen, M.D.
Neurologist, Cedars Sinai Hospital, Beverly Hills
April 24, 2007

Al Belsley, Proud Dashaway Owner

The Dashaway is the latest advancement in mobility technology. One of the first people to test out the Dashaway system is Al Belsley, a Parkinson’s patient and retired aerospace engineer. On December 15^th, 2007 Charles Blount, co-inventor of the Dashaway, sat down with Al and his wife Diane to see how they were doing. The following is a complete transcript of their interview.

 

Charles Blount: Can you please state your names for the record?

 

Al: My name is Al Belsley and this is my wife Diane. I’m, 73 years old and a Parkinson’s patient which I got diagnosed as in the fall of 2004, and since that time I’ve been trying to develop techniques for me to live as normal a life as possible

 

Charles Blount:  (to Diane) How has his condition affected you and your relationship with Al? Are there any activities that you find yourself having to avoid?

 

Diane: Well he has the type of Parkinson’s that’s called Simian Stoop, and so he has a great deal of pain in his back. And it’s been difficult for him, because as much as he would like to stand up straight, without some kind of help it’s almost impossible for him to do. So with the Dashaway, this is the first time we found anything that would give him the support that allows him to stand much straighter and avoid a lot of the pain. Of course that makes a big difference in what kinds of activities he can do.

 

Charles Blount: How did you first hear about the Dashaway?

 

Al: Well my doctor, when I went in for my regular three month check up, I complained about a problem I was having with my bent over back and it was getting progressively worse. He mentioned to me a new product that was coming down the line called the Dashaway, which didn’t mean anything to me. I went home and I had my son check out the computer, brought it up on the screen and subsequently called Charles Blount and we had a discussion on the particular unit.

 

Charles Blount: (to Diane) What’s your recollection about the first time you heard about the Dashaway? 

 

Diane: Well I heard about it from Al because he was at a Parkinson’s meeting with his neurologist Dr. Ziman and he came back with this information. And then, of course, I’m the one who accesses the web so I tried to find out what I could learn from that site. And what was interesting is that we have one son who lives in Portugal, and so the best way to communicate with him is to send him the web site address and then he could get into this conversation too. He’s a physicist so he’s very interested in how things work and we have a twelve year old grandson who is also wanting to know, he was very curious when he came to visit us last time, he wanted to know just what all this stuff was. So it’s sort of percolating down the family.

 

 

Charles Blount: (to Al) So when you first heard about the Dashaway, what did you think?

 

Al: I thought maybe it was another gimmick type thing where you have certain advertised aspects to it and when you get it you find out it’s really a little bit of a sham. Fortunately Charles agreed to loan me the unit for a couple weeks to check it out which said he had faith in it and obviously he’s done a lot more research there working with Mr. Dashew. But the unit, when I first got it,  it immediately had an effect on me.

 

Charles Blount: What were you using before using the Dashaway?

 

Al: Well before using the Dashaway I progressed from just a normal stooped over simian type posture to a walker, just a standard type walker. This was because my one son lives in Portugal and his family was coming over and I rented it for a month to check it out. That did not really satisfy any real solution to the problem and I went to the pole thing with the advice of my physical therapist and did that. And then I progressively got to the point where I could not use the walker for long distances, neither the poles nor the walker for long distance usage. And we worked out an arrangement where they would loan me the Dashaway in order to give them feedback on what works and what doesn’t work for Parkinson’s patients.

 

Diane:  I think that became very obvious one year, it was about holiday time and in our area people decorate their homes with lights so we thought, well, we’ll take a little walk around the block and observe all the lights and enjoy that, (turns towards Al) and you were walking downhill, and we got about halfway around the block and it became very obvious he wasn’t going to be able to go any farther. I can’t recall if we went and got the car, or what we did, if we stopped …

 

Al: We got the car.

 

Diane: Yeah. We knew at that time something had to be done. It was just impossible for him to move without some kind of help.

 

Charles Blount: And when you were using the standard walker and the poles you were still in a stooped position?

 

Al: Yeah right because you’re down at this point and your arms get very tired in the back there, the triceps.

 

Diane: In fact I think the walker even makes the angle worse because the tendency is to stand so far away from it so that you can brace with your arms that it makes the angle that the body takes even worse than just standing with the poles.

 

Charles Blount: Tell me about the experience with your grandchildren and him going to rent a mobility device to help him with that experience.

 

Diane: Well it’s always a big deal when these kids come. They come twice a year, they live in Portugal, so we really are very excited to see them and to participate with them. And Al wanted to do some things with them so he went …

 

Al: I rented a regular walker and I found out that most people don’t rent them, but I did locate this shop so I didn’t have to buy one. So I rented it for a month and we used it when the children were here but it didn’t really expand my capabilities very much. It was a little bit better but not near my expectations.

 

Diane: There were things that we just didn’t do because he wasn’t mobile enough to do them.

 

Charles Blount: Would he be mobile enough now?

 

Diane: Well yeah, for instance, with our other son and his girlfriend we had Thanksgiving down on the beach and he could go and put the walker, the Dashaway in the car and he could loco mote to the place on the beach next to the sand where we could stop and have Thanksgiving dinner. But the walker, I think, wouldn’t have worked on that because there were irregularities in the surface of the walk and things like that and this worked like a charm.

 

Charles Blount: Would you call the Dashaway a walker?

 

Diane: I…. don’t mean to, (laughs) but I did say that at that point

 

Charles Blount: But would you put it in the same category as a walker?

 

Diane: Well if there’s one thing about it, it does allow him to walk or move and other than that I don’t think there’s much comparison because it has so many other characteristics that are helpful.

 

Al: We sort of concentrate on it’s primary aspect which is it gets you to a straight position and that alleviates a substantial amount of back pain, in fact I look forward to using the Dashaway because it eliminates the pain that you get in the back and how long you can tolerate it. But that’s only one of the features of the device; it can also be used for your exercise routine, so it’s kind of a combined gym and mobility device all in one.

 

Charles Blount: Have you been doing your exercises?

 

Al:  Not as consistent as I should have because I have other things I do that tend to supplement those. I go to yoga two days a week, I have physical therapy one day a week and then I have inputs from my physical therapist as well as other physical therapy departments at the local university. So I have other techniques and other exercises used which I try and do at home. The simple one is trying to lift my hands above my head and we have a stairway that’s open and you can sort of climb up the stairway underneath it there. So that’s just typically one of the other techniques that I can do and it is important that people do exercise that have Parkinson’s, it may keep your joints as mobile as possible.

 

Charles Blount: So tell me about Yoga class.

 

Diane: Well we go to a special yoga class and it’s called easy yoga and it’s made for people who have, a few challenges. The problem is that it’s at our Spectrum gym and its way in the back of the building. So for a long time we were able to manage to get back there with the poles but it got to the point where it was very difficult for Al to move from the parking place, even with his handicapped special parking, to walk all the way back to that yoga class. And by the time he got there he was really tired. With the Dashaway it’s become almost ….

 

Al: Well it’s sets my posture up before I get there …

 

Diane: Right.

 

Al: … which helps me to do some of the yoga positions much better than I could otherwise.

 

Diane:  Not only can he get to the class but it seems as if it’s a kind of warm-up for him. Because by being more upright it flows right into what our Yoga teacher is asking us to do and that’s... think about sitting straight, as if a golden thread is coming up from your head and some little angel is up there pulling you up … so this sets the scene for him really. And he really has an advantage, I don’t get to do that. I have to walk in (laughs) but he’s already geared to start the yoga.

 

Charles Blount: So we’ve helped him and the angel.

 

Diane: Yes. So the angel can take a break now because (laughs) he’s got his Dashaway

 

Charles Blount: Have you ever tried doing the exercises in the Dashaway, I’m just curious?

 

Diane: I did, right at the beginning, just to see what problems he was facing and it’s interesting because some of these exercises carry over from Tai Chi or from Yoga or from various shape up programs, and it’s interesting that he can do them in the device, you know things that he would normally be doing outside.

 

Charles Blount: Mrs Belsley, how did the Dashaway help you?

 

Diane: Well it’s a very complex question because I think, over time, as Al’s Parkinson’s has progressed I found an uneven balance in our relationship. We’ve been married for over 50 years and I think he’s used to kind of helping me and sheltering me in many ways and as the Parkinson’s took more control of his movements that became more difficult. Once he started using the Dashaway he regained, again a kind of confidence I think, and an ability to do some things for himself that he wasn’t able to do before.

 

Al: I think one of the key factors that all Parkinson’s patients have is the ability to have control over your life. And previously if you’re limited to walking a short distance like fifty feet or so, or not being able to drive, those restrict you to essentially being at home and you do not have the network of interests that reside outside the house. And that makes a big difference because I have a strong feeling towards trying to be independent, where I don’t try to put a load on her but obviously she’s doing double duty sometimes

 

Diane:  There’s been a fun kind of thing that I never expected. (turns to husband) I think when you first started walking with the walking sticks you were a little reluctant to be out there – a little afraid that people would think you were odd or something like that, but with the Dashaway we find people are coming up to us and they’re asking questions and suddenly he’s the big star, he’s got this new scientific apparatus and it’s a kind of a reversal from hiding away from people, to actually sot of being out there… it’s kind of like a race car driver you know, the way it’s engineered …

 

Al: (smiles) Well it’s not quite that fast.

 

Diane: Well I know but , the look of it you know. And Al is not a kind of show off person but I can see that he’s enjoying this kind of stuff when people come up and then he tells them about it, and “I’ve got this…(laughs)… it really turns the whole thing the other way around.

 

Charles Blount: It turns it into a more positive experience?

 

Diane:              Exactly. He was avoiding people and kind of sneaking around and worrying what people were going to think about when they looked at him. And now he is part of this kind of new world you know, extra modern, …

 

Charles Blount: He’s on the cutting edge.

 

Diane: Yes there he is, right out there. (laughing)

 

Al: (joking) Unofficial test pilot. …But she’s right there …You finally realize you’re not going to get progressively better with Parkinson’s…so make the most of your quality of life while you can. And by having the Dashaway there, there’s things that I can do now that are fairly normal and be a total life, in fact in some ways I have different interests, meet different people now than I did before.

 

Charles Blount: So what’s your experience like when you go to the grocery store?

 

Al: Ah, well the grocery store is an interesting phenomena , the guys look away from you and the ladies usually smile. (all laugh) And when you go to the grocery store with the poles you’ve got to get from the car to where the carts may be located and then your back into a hunched over walker like appearance while you go shopping. In the case of Costco we found out there’s a neat solution to the problem. They have the big grocery carts and if you back up the Dashaway into the back end of the oversized grocery cart you can go through Costco sort of like a train. As a matter of fact, just to check it out, after we went through the checkout line our car was parked at the far end of the parking lot. I was able to latch up with the Dashaway and push both carts easily all the way to the place where we parked the car.

 

Charles Blount: So what does your husband do for an occupation?

 

Diane: He’s a rocket scientist. (laughs) He’s an aerospace engineer and he worked on the guidance control missiles, in other words, the small booster rockets that guide the Space Shuttle and make it turn in space. So he’s very aware of engineering problems and always been interested in how things work. That’s why I think he was kind of pleased to have the opportunity to test drive the Dashaway. He’s very precise and, although he doesn’t use the computer as much as I do, he has these engineering quadrille sheets and he started writing down, this works, this doesn’t work, I have to try this a little bit more, and in a way it was like what I’ve seen with people when they don’t retire completely but they keep a little bit of an interest in something. He suddenly had this project to get into and besides the physical good points of the Dashaway, I think for him personally, this allowed him to get back and do something that he felt was going to be useful for himself and other people.

 

Charles Blount: That’s amazing. That’s exactly what Mr. Dashew’s experience was with the Dashaway.

 

Diane:Well I think they have similar minds.

 

Charles Blount: They’re very similar.

 

Diane:  We had a conversation a little while ago. Al was signing something and Mr. Dashew gave him a book to put underneath it and I was just remarking that I think both scientists and artists have this kind of thought process whereas rather that defining something as an object with a name that can only do one thing, they use things for whatever purpose works best. And I think this is something that creative people have in common and it’s great.

 

Charles Blount: So Mr Belsley, how much did the Dashaway change your perception of a mobility device?

 

Al: It was a complete change. I had heard of spinal decompression but never thought that an exercise device would be able to achieve that type of effect.

 

Charles Blount: So how different do you feel in this than you would in any other device, like the one that you said you rented?

 

Al: Well I tried to rent a normal walker, I tried several other devices that the physical therapist recommended and also the two pole approach. This is substantially different than those particular items. Immediately when you get in the Dashaway your spine decompresses and you feel like going off , essentially almost jogging.

 

Charles Blount: So did the other ones hurt you or did you have pain when using them?

 

Al: No they didn’t hurt me but, it evolved into a hurt. Because as you leaned over the device you were straining muscles that caused soreness in the back and eventually would, in a very short period of time, would limit how far you could walk. Like with the poles I can walk maybe fifty feet and then I’ve got to lay down and stretch out on the floor and it disappears and then I’m back up, and you go through this cycle.

 

Charles Blount: And the Dashaway changes all that?

 

Al: Yes

 

Charles Blount: So Mr. Bellsley what is your technical background?

 

Al: My technical background is in the aerospace engineering field.

 

Charles Blount: Based on your background how do you perceive the Dashaway as a machine?

 

Al: Well it’s a device which lets you accomplish something that you had a difficult time accomplishing before. Relating it, a little bit, to the aerospace industry that I worked in for a number of years, Parkinson’s sort of got me to the same place as we got on different other technical problems. And as one of the executives at Rockwell once said when we were working on the space shuttle, “ If it was easy to do, we would have done it a long time ago.”  The goal was to try and do something that appears impossible and achieve the result you wanted in the first place.

 

Charles Blount: This was on what project?

 

Al: This was on the space shuttle project. The company that I worked for provided the altitude control rockets that provided the steering and the guidance once you got above the atmosphere. Everyday was a new challenge. This had not been done before, some of the people still say it was never done, that it was a fake, but the real world is that a bunch of people got together and accomplished a job. This is much smaller aspect but it’s a job that’s very critical to the people who have Parkinson’s. So as you move through life, you initially have thoughts about, why the hell did this happen to me, but as you get into it there’s always another approach, is this going to work? Are there ways of diet, nutrition, exercise… now everybody says exercise helps and that is very important, but you need the right equipment to accomplish that in the most beneficial manner. And, therefore, the Dashaway is a major step forward, because instantly, after I got on it, these images of sham and ad disappeared as I was able to move fifty feet down the hall in a normal walking attitude. In fact I wanted to start jogging on the damn thing.

 

 Charles Blount: So you could kind of say it’s your control rockets, right?

 

Al: Well that’s true. I never thought of it in that manner. That’s the manner of the nerves controlling the limbs and the function of that. Everybody’s affected differently, particularly for people who have a postural problem, exercise is critical you’ve got to keep working at it everyday and this device is very useful from that standpoint.

 

Charles Blount: So it’s just a tool to keep going?

 

Al: I wouldn’t say it’s just a tool to keep going. It does do that. It gives you a quality of life that’s very close to what life used to be. In that way you’re always looking for another solution to a problem so you have some goal ahead. In this case the Dashway was there, which was a major increment in confidence that there are ways to maintain quality of life. As for the work that one does, helping to get that developed, and all the refinements that the Dashaway Corporation has done here are major inputs to ease the burden.

Al Belsley,
Proud Dashaway Owner
Since December 15, 2007