Clark Demland

Clark Demland was a 29 year old Jaco user in Arizona who lived with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy..  He passed away in 2022.  As you might imagine from these photos, Clark was creative, free-spirited, and very funny.  

And he was a fighter.  After having his Jaco reimbursement request denied twice, he and his dad scheduled a formal hearing with Medicaid.  The day before the hearing his Jaco was approved!

Sarah Furguson

Sarah was one of the first people to receive a Jaco, back in 2014.  With a spinal cord injury since the age of 3, Sarah didn’t let any obstacle stop her from achieving her goals.  

She received a law degree and then practiced elder law for a private firm.  Sarah also wrote the curriculum for a new law class offered at Cornell University!

As you can see Sarah liked to dress up for the holidays and always included her Jaco (named Ursula) in her wardrobe!  Did anybody notice Ursula holding mistletoe?

Jordan Klapp

Jordan Klapp passed away in July 2021.  Jordan lived with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and while he was soft-spoken and didn’t say too much Jordan had a way of making you smile.  His favorite phrase when learning to use his Jaco robot was “Aw, geez!”.

There are two quotes from Jordan that really stood out.  

The first was when his mom, Gwen, asked him how his soda tasted the first time he drank by himself using Jaco, “It tastes like victory!”  

The second when he said, “With Duchenne I’ve been losing my whole life but with Jaco I’m winning.”