From Tragedy to Triumph
Alex John was an active, healthy young man when he went away on a boy’s weekend in February 2007. The boys, many of them plumbers, rigged up their own ‘waterslide’ sliding down a hill and into the Murray River, Echuca, without a care in the world. It was not until Alex had his turn that it all went bad.
Alex recalls ‘I landed funny on my back and felt a sharp pain go through my body, I managed to walk back to camp but proceeded to pass out. Luckily my brother had just finished a First Aid course at work and knew that moving someone with a suspected spinal injury could be really dangerous, so rather than take me to the hospital themselves, they called the Ambulance.
Turns out that was the best decision his brother had ever made.
“I had a fragment of bone 2mm from my spinal cord from the compound fracture in my vertebrae. The doctors told me that had I not been treated properly, I probably would have suffered a severe spinal cord injury that could have left me a quadriplegic.”
This was 10 years after Alex started his career in plumbing. That compound fracture in his vertebrae, led doctors to initially believe that he would never walk again, and certainly not plumb again.
But near-quadriplegia turned into a blessing for Alex and the plumbing industry.
“I remember laying in the hospital bed feeling helpless, watching the medical staff explain what had gone on in my spine by showing me a bendable ‘demo spine’ which they twisted and turned in all directions and I had a genuine ‘light bulb’ moment.
“I remembered how I’d always cursed the ridged silicone nozzles when using them on plumbing jobs as they didn’t allow me to get into all the nooks and crannies that needed silicone – and watching this spine bend in all directions gave me an idea to create a bendable silicone nozzle with as much flexibility as I was seeing in the demo spine,” explains Alex who is now back on his feet and fielding daily enquiries for his BENT-OVER Silicone Nozzles.
The unique patented design of BENT-OVER™ Silicone Nozzles offers:
• An increase in efficiency, saving you time and hassle and cutting done on wastage
• Features ball joints that pivot to all angles
• Allows for additional ‘ball joints’ to be added to make the nozzle extendable, getting you into all those hard to reach places
• Come in packs of two, giving you a combined nozzle length of 170mm+
• Durability, made of ‘Acetal’, one of the strongest plastics of today, they are resistant to acid and chemicals
• Internal smoothness, for effortless transfer of sealant and simple non-stick removal
• Has been embraced as an advancement in plumbing technology by all who use it
• Is currently in use on many of the largest construction sites Australia wide
• Quality guarantee, with the product made here in Australia.
Alex says, “we are really proud to manufacture right here at home. Australia has the skills and technology to do really remarkable things. It is also the most effective way to guarantee quality of our product. We can maintain control of each step in the production process. Quality is of vital priority – it’s important to plumbers and other tradespeople on the job, so it’s important to us.”
BENT-OVER™ Silicone Nozzles has recently been accepted as part of the Australian Made, Australian Owned program. Stockists can be found at www.bentoversiliconenozzles.com or ask for them at your local trade store.
SPINAL CORD INJURY
Spinal cord injury happens if pressure is applied to the spinal cord, and/or the blood and oxygen supply to the cord is disrupted. This means that part of the spinal cord dies. Within Australia:
• Most spinal cord injuries happen to people under the age of 35.
• More than 70% of spinal cord injuries are sustained by men.
• The main causes of traumatic spinal cord injuries are road trauma, falls and water related accidents.
• In 2010-11, 40 % of SCIs resulted in quadriplegia, and 60% in paraplegia
(Source: Princess Alexandra Hospital’s Spinal Injuries Unit 2012.)
Contact
bentoversiliconenozzles.com