When I was a boy one of the highlights of my week was a TV show called The Six Million Dollar Man.
Featuring Steve Austin, played by (the very 70's cool) Lee Majors he was the original bionic man. Anyone who is old enough will recall the opening sequence which involved actual footage of a NASA M2-F2 crash that occurred on May 10, 1967 *
SCRIPT (link below)
Steve Austin : "Flight Com, I can't hold her! She's breaking up! She's breaking.......".
Narrator : Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive."
Oscar Goldman : "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better...stronger...faster."
Recently Kate and I were invited to join Meditronic at their annual conference in Sydney, and we fly out tonight. In my case they design and manufacture the neurotransmitter hardware and software that "zaps my brain" 24/7. I am one of the (3) patients they have invited to talk to their staff about how their work impact on peoples' lives.
Last night I was lying in bed thinking about how to explain to the audience what this amazing piece of technology has done for Kate, the girls and I.
As I pondered the catch phrase "we have the technology, we can rebuild him" popped up and since the surgeries I am "better, stronger, faster." Whilst I'm not exactly leaping tall walls, or running at 95 km/h, (& I wish i I had a bionic eye) the device in my head has given me back my physical world, my smile and a whole range of freedom.
I still have "parky" but the post surgery benefit translates to a quality of time with my family and kids that is impossible to attribute a $$ value to it. I will say this - It's certainly worth more than six million dollars to us. smile emoticon
* In the real crash pilot Bruce Peterson's NASA aircraft hit the ground at approximately 250 mph (402 km/h) and tumbled six times. Peterson survived what appeared to be a fatal accident, though (ironically) he later lost an eye due to infection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoLs0V8T5AA
* In the real crash pilot Bruce Peterson's NASA aircraft hit the ground at approximately 250 mph (402 km/h) and tumbled six times. Peterson survived what appeared to be a fatal accident, though (ironically) he later lost an eye due to infection.
source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Million_Dollar_Man
