Ethan Hasset lived in Mackay with family and enjoyed doing all the things many 19 year old do, going out with friends, having fun and playing his Xbox. When he not socialising, he worked with his dad at their local hospital doing maintenance jobs but only until his plumbing apprenticeship started.
One day, while out enjoying time with friends on his quad bike, Ethan lost control of the bike, crashing into a storm water drain. Ethan was taken to hospital where it was discovered he had suffered a C4 complete spinal cord injury.
The effect of this accident was life changing for Ethan and subsequently meant being transferred to the rehabilitation unit at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane where he spent most of his time. To help eliminate some boredom, Ethan wanted to start playing his Xbox again but found that due to the accident he found navigating the controller difficult and was often limited to games he could actually play. On seeing his frustration, the therapist at the hospital contacted us to see if we could help.
After looking at Ethan’s abilities and working around what he can do, rather than what he can’t. Our Electronics Engineer Dan was able to build and completely new controller with softer, easier to access buttons and sticks as well as relocating buttons to other areas of the controller. Now Ethan has full access to all the controls he needs and is super excited to play all the latest games that he never thought he would be able to play again.
Ethan Says
“It feels so great to be able to get back into gaming and talk and play with all my old friends that I used to before the accident”.