Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Lend-A-Hand in the News - Red Wing

Another great article recently published about the Lend-A-Hand:


By Brett Boese
The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

AUSTIN — Despite being in circulation for almost a decade, Mike Duncan's business isn't exactly booming.

The fact that the Red Wing man gave away his latest version of Land-A-Hand to an Austin war veteran last week might raise questions of a flawed business model. The reality is Duncan's business is also his passion, finances be damned.

After graduating from Lake City's Lincoln High School in 1966, Duncan served four years in the Vietnam War. His entrepreneurial career started in 1992, but it took him a decade to form the idea behind Lend-A-Hand. The small device is strapped to an arm or leg and helps physically challenged people — often injured veterans or stroke victims — to perform up to 25 different activities, such as cooking, raking, golfing and fishing.

Just as that idea was getting off the ground, Duncan's wife of 32 years, Patricia, died of pancreatic cancer. She was 50. One of their final conversations together involved Duncan promising his ailing spouse that he'd see Lend-A-Hand become a success.

While it remains a financial nightmare — at one time he had 20 credit cards maxed out with three mortgages out on his home — people like Dan Stewart have provided the motivation to keep pressing forward.

The Marine, an Austin native who graduated from Hayfield High School in 2003, was seriously injured in 2005 during his third tour in Iraq. An improvised explosive device blew up next to the unarmored Humvee he was driving.

Things looked so grim for Stewart that two field hospitals refused to treat him, thinking he was past saving. The 27-year-old credits his fallow Marines with saving his life; they refused medical treatment until their stricken comrade was helped.

Stewart was in a coma for 32 days, during which he also suffered a stroke, and underwent a cranioplasty to insert two metal plates into his skull before being released.

Seven years later, Stewart is volunteering at St. Edward's Catholic Church in Austin, doing such tasks as raking and mowing with the help of Duncan's Lend-A-Hand. When the Stewart first started volunteering, he didn't even have the stamina to walk around the block. He now takes 10-mile jaunts around town that last around three hours.

"The first time I saw Dan mow, his smile was so happy," said MaryAnn Lynch, an Austin resident who helped Duncan and Stewart connect in late 2009. "He was smiling from ear to ear."

Such success stories compel Duncan, who put 60,000 miles on his car in 2010 trying to market the Lend-A-Hand to the 63 million physically challenged people in the United States. It's currently being sold in Red Wing, Lake City, Zumbrota and at Mayo Clinic's retail store in Rochester — plus various other shops throughout the country, but mainstream stores have almost universally rejected it.

"I'll tell you what, I've had so many doors slammed in my face that my nose is flat, and I've got a flat rear end from being kicked out on my butt so many times," Duncan said. "But (my wife) stuck with me to the end. She believed in me. I want to do this in her memory."

People like Dan "are what's changed me," Duncan said. "I hear all their stories, and it's really humbled me. It's an honor for me to know people like MaryAnn and Dan."

That change goes both ways, as Duncan's initial client remains his most ardent supporter. Sue Seeger of Lake City suffered a stroke when she was just 20. She's spent time traveling the country with Duncan, explaining the Lend-A-Hand's benefits. She also wrote the testimonial on Duncan's flier.

"This device has given me my life back," she wrote. "I feel like a whole person again instead of feeling like I only have one good side left. I am grateful to have this product, and I know it can help other people with physical challenges."
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