Marist School issued the following announcement on Nov. 1.
John Sexton '19 and his father, Shawn Sexton, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2014, saw a need. Shawn needed independence as his ALS progressed and EyeDrive, now LifeDrive, was born.
LifeDrive, a stack of three computer chips connected to a series of apps that allows Shawn to drive his powerchair with existing eye gaze technology. The initial prototype was simple and gave Shawn some independence. But Shawn and John are both curious and driven, so they tinkered. They programmed the ability to shift the chair’s position to reduce risk of pressure sores and alleviate pain. They added the ability to toggle between the communicator app and the driving app so Shawn could do both. With input from Kathy, they added a caregiver app with safety features and the ability to drive remotely. Then father and son added the ability to change speed and turn the chair off, along with other options to allow Shawn more independence.
Fellow Marist alumna Dylan Rose Elledge is a part of John's LifeDrive team as the Chief Marketing Officer.
Click here to read the full article and watch the video about John and Shawn's story.
Original source can be found here.
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