From the Las Vegas Sun - February 10, 2009 (View Article)

By Mike Trask (contact)

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009 | 2 a.m.

A bit of divine inspiration turned Ross Dauterive into an inventor.

The preacher at Green Valley Evangelical Lutheran had asked the congregation to rise, and Dauterive watched as his then-8-year-old son, Ben, who suffers from cerebral palsy, put his little hands on the pew in front of him and hoisted himself to a standing position.

The light went on for Dauterive: If he could make something similar to that pew, it would allow his son — who uses a wheelchair — to stand on his own at home.

It took a few years. He mapped out the idea and purchased bundles of plywood. He took apart an old office chair and hunted down a 3-foot-long metal bar.

He had to overcome a heart attack and stroke along the way, but Dauterive’s brainstorm progressed from a wood model cut in his garage to an adjustable seat on a steel contraption, thanks to some industrial welding courtesy of a local shop.

The final result is a chair custom-designed to help people who suffer from neuromuscular diseases. It’s partly an exercise machine, partly a device to help disabled people stand and, for Ben, partly a toy.

And it’s unique. The U.S. government issued Dauterive a patent for it last year: No. 7,318,795 B2.

The prototype sits in Dauterive’s living room, on the wood floor between a computer nook and a big-screen television.

“This should help a lot of children someday,” Dauterive, 47, says in his Louisiana drawl. “And it’s really a simple thing.”

Each morning Ben, now an eighth grader, uses it to work out. His dad dubbed it the “TV Chair” because Ben put it to a lot of use while watching his favorite movies.

It has straps into which he can tuck his feet and a steel bar in front of the chair that he can grab to lift himself into a standing position from a seat that includes a knee pad to further stabilize his weak legs.

He has to do 50 “stand-ups” before he is allowed to fire up the PlayStation 3 and play video games.

Dauterive, who quit his job as a Henderson firefighter four years ago to focus on caring for Ben, figures he can lease his idea or sell it outright. For now he’s setting up a Web site, TVchair.net, to sell the devices for about $2,800 each. He can make one in his garage, with some welding aid, in about 10 days.

A family in California ordered one and sent him a letter telling him how much it was helping their child and how thankful they were.

Dauterive said the letter “made me cry the first time I saw it.”

He’s hoping he can feel that way many more times.