The Buzzz April, 2009

By Ryan E. Smith
Blade Staff Writer

Dr. Patrick McNamara gets out of his silver minivan and hobbles a few steps, leaning heavily on a homemade wooden cane. There is pain in every awkward movement the 51-year-old makes — until he pops open the trunk and grins. "In a moment, I will no longer be handicapped," he declares. The next thing you know, he’s zipping around the parking lot like Willy Wonka — he’s still holding the cane — using a Segway to run circles around an observer. He continues to show off inside a nearby supermarket, gliding around with ease, pushing a shopping cart, and exhibiting no trace of the nerve ailment that leaves him in severe pain most of the time. "I’m not disabled when I’m on this," says Dr. McNamara, who has complex regional pain syndrome and retired from internal medicine three years ago. "It’s such a completely rehumanizing experience."

Patrick McNamara is moving forward That’s what interests the Sylvania Township man most. Sometimes the solution is flashy and high-tech, like the Segway he uses to get around. At other times, it’s as old-school as the canes that he makes from scratch in his basement workshop. It all began when Dr. McNamara injured his back while exercising and found that he had trouble walking even a short distance due to the extreme pain. He investigated all sorts of help: scooters, wheelchairs, hiking sticks, metal canes, but each had its own problem. "The devices that you use to get around kind of mark you," he says. Consider aluminum canes, for example. "They’re ugly, they’re cold, they’re uncomfortable," he says. "They mark you as someone sick or disabled." Then he tried a Segway and everything changed.

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