Touching Testimonial: Sgt. Wing Woo Uses the Novo to Recover from a Body Surfing Accident

Working to help people to live their lives more fully is our number one goal at Human Touch. So when we get to hear recovery stories where our products help people to feel better - like this one from Sgt. Wing Woo in Washington - it makes all of our efforts worthwhile.

In 2016, Sergeant Woo was vacationing with his family in Hawaii and body surfing with his son, when a rogue wave sent him tumbling toward the ocean floor. He was “bent backwards like a scorpion,” and knocked unconscious as his head struck the hard sand. His 14 year-old son was able to recover his body from the water, but found his father unresponsive and limp. Sgt. Woo was resuscitated but found to be comatose and rushed to a local hospital, where he remained in a coma for the next 3 days. After he was able to breathe on his own, an MRI was performed and revealed considerable swelling on his spine, which was indicative of the damage that the accident had caused. He was later diagnosed as a Partial Incomplete Paraplegic.

Throughout this whole experience, the Woo family was restricted to the hospital in Hawaii, as they were unable to transport Sgt. Woo back to Seattle without a $50,000 Medivac medical transport. Within one week, his friends and family created a GoFundMe page and raised more than $100,000 to pay for the Medivac fees and other hospital expenses. Sgt. Woo was able to return to Washington, where he was able to regain some mobility but is still restricted to a motorized wheelchair.

Recently, Sgt. Woo reached out to us to share his experience, revealing that our Novo massage chair had made an impact on his recovery. He had tried the chair out at his local Costco, and knew he had to have it. He and his son purchased the blue-upholstered demo model, right there off the show floor.

Since then, he has used his chair as often as possible, sometimes for several hours per day. Since he is restricted to his wheelchair, he struggles to maintain full-body circulation, and runs the risk of pressure sores that result from extended sitting. With his Novo, he is able to recline back into zero-gravity and relieve some of the pressure on his sitting area. He also uses the cloud touch acupressure feature and the arm massage wells to work his muscles and increase his blood flow to his extremities. As is common with his condition, his hands remain clamped since he is unable to unclench them himself. The arm massage helps to work his forearms and hands in order to stretch them out and to loosen the tendons that would be shortened with extended clenching.

Before purchasing his Novo, Sgt. Woo was going to multiple physical therapy and massage therapy appointments each week. It was a constant struggle to not only afford these visits, but also to travel to and from so many appointments. The Novo has allowed him to maintain his regular massage visits from the comfort of his home, and for a fraction of the long-term cost.

We are so grateful to Sgt. Woo for sharing his story with us, and inspired by the community that surrounds and supports him during this time. We wish him and his family our very best as they continue to recover from this incident.

If you would like to contribute toward Sgt. Woo, his wife and two children in order to help pay down their medical bills, please go to their GoFundMe page here.