I contacted Dr. Passy at UCI and told him of my idea. He was interested enough to invite me to his office to discuss my idea. When I arrived, Dr. Passy was a little surprised that I was a patient and not a doctor or an engineer. I showed him the valve and told him of my desire to help other trached patients. He seemed excited about its effectiveness, but then explained that I needed a way to adapt it to the trach. That night Dr. Passy told his wife, Patricia, about my visit. Having had previous business experience, she was very interested in the prospects of the valve. Patricia did some investigating and later contacted me with the results. I learned that over two million trach tubes are distributed a year and that trachs were not limited to just quads like myself. So we, Patricia and I, formed a corporation and went about the job of letting people know about my ideas for the valve.

Our prototype worked, but I found that it was difficult to use for long periods of time because the flap inside was made of rubber and was hard to move. Another problem was its appearance. It protruded too much from the trach and the red flap was unattractive. We experimented with different combinations of materials and designs until we found the right combination. One of our failures would have made a perfect duck call because it made a very loud QUACK! I discovered that I could sound like a woodcock or even a Canadian goose. Finally, we came up with a valve that was smooth with a relatively short protrusion and a light, easy to move silastic flap.

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