Europe’s financial woes continue but I’m pleased to say that the Tailwind continues its history of being in high demand in Europe and beyond. When I first launched the Tailwind in 2009, I was surprised by how many people from all over the world contacted me about buying it. I did not expect to have to learn export rules and global shipping processes so soon, but I had to because so many people wanted to purchase it. One of the first to contact me was a woman in France, and she didn’t speak much English and I didn’t know much French. Eventually her son, who lived in New York City, purchased it for her and took it home to France.

Our first distributor was Anatomical Concepts in Scotland (www.anatomicalconcepts.com). The owners are rehabilitation professionals who are very forward-thinking in their approach to stroke recovery, and they had read about the clinical studies involving the Tailwind long before I even founded the company. Today they sell the Tailwind all over the UK.

Since then, we have shipped the Tailwind to Mexico, South Africa, Guatemala, Germany, Greece, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain. In Asia we’ve shipped to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea just in the past two months. And the country we’ve shipped to the most? Japan, which has the highest stroke rate per capita in the world. Everywhere you find a developed country, you will find stroke survivors. This is usually because highly developed countries also have highly developed diets—lots of high-fat processed foods high in sodium, in large quantities. And where you find stroke survivors, you’ll find the Tailwind!

We are here today at the Baby Boomer/Senior Expo at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. It’s a great place to meet seniors and show them the Tailwind for arm rehabilitation. By far the largest number of people having strokes are seniors, but increasingly younger and younger people are having them. The fastest growing age group for stroke is age 45-57! And we’re seeing plenty of younger stroke survivors today.

I’m also surprised by the number of people who are stopping by to say that they have a family member who has had a stroke. This shouldn’t surprise me, though, because according to the American Heart Association, 4 out of 5 American families will be affected by stroke. And nearly 85% of stroke survivors will experience some arm mobility issues. We developed the Tailwind for people with moderate to severe paralysis after stroke and want to improve their arm function and range of motion at home. We’re proud that we can help some of them get better arm movement with the Tailwind.

An expo like this is a great way to meet stroke survivors and their families, and to show them how the Tailwind works. We are based in Baltimore, but it’s hard to get all over the country to demonstrate the Tailwind. If you’re in the Baltimore area and want to come to the Baby Boomer Expo, please stop by and say hi!