Posted by Stefanie Zucker on October 14, 2010 · 3 Comments
I think it’s time…
PMD or Pediatric Medical Devices has been 15 years in the making. …or rather 15 years of my life. I kept thinking well when everything is done…when the PedREST finally comes out to the market…when we actually save a child’s life…then I’ll tell my story. But that hasn’t happened…at least not yet… and there’s no guarantee of when it will… so I think it’s time to tell this story to the best of my ability and hope someone gets to hear it…
I probably should tell anyone who decides to stop by and read this that this is not “light reading” for a slow weekend. As I said at the start, it’s been 15 years. What I didn’t say was that during those 15 years, I’ve had someone close to me try and take controlling interest of the company, licensing negotiations fall through at the eleventh hour and trusted industry professionals “borrow” our ideas.
Truth be told it hasn’t been all bad. Because of this journey I’ve met some wonderful, truly selfless people without whom I would have lost faith a long time ago. And I founded this community – something I am very proud of…
But I’m getting ahead of myself. To really tell this right I need to go back to when it all began – September of 1995 when an EMT – my little sister – invented something she believed would save the lives of kids. I’m not going to retell her story since it’s already been told here. What I will say is that it started with a simple concept drawing on construction paper. Then in July of 1996 she came and asked me for my help…could I make her dream a reality? Of course I could…or so I thought.
People will always tell you things like …never give up… believe in your dreams and they’ll become a reality, …even “build it and they will come”. You know the sayings…and I listened to all of them. Bringing a new product to market is never easy…it’s also not inexpensive (as I soon discovered). It doesn’t care that the US has gone to war, or that we’re in a recession, or even that the job that pays the bills has come to a standstill. You just have to keep going and make tradeoffs…what will you give up this month so you can pay the attorneys, the engineers, the prototype guy? But you can only give so much before it crushes you and at one point it almost crushed me.
I am stronger now and rebuilding my life. And I think that’s why it feels like the right time to share this. … maybe someone can benefit from my mistakes …maybe someone who’s going through something like I did can take courage in knowing it is possible to come out the other side. For whatever it’s worth…my story begins here… until next week…thanks for listening…
Thanks for allowing me to me a very small part of this and to accompany you on part of this journey. Thanks for telling your story.
Life is full of challenges and not all come out the way we want. Perhaps since this community is about bettering the lives of kids its fitting that this reminder- though sometimes painful, is posted here as well.
Great job, great courage and again my thanks.
From Ireland, Jim- Out!
Thanks for being there…for always supporting, encouraging, advising and believing in me and in what I was trying to accomplish. My friendship with you is one of the highlights of this journey 🙂
Safe travels!
Stefanie
.-= Stefanie´s last blog ..Kathy Ireland Urges Funding for Down Syndrome Research =-.