SPRING HILL, Fla. — He was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, but instead of feeling sorry for himself, he used his misfortune to develop an invention he hopes will help others like him.
“I asked to win the lottery jokingly, and basically, I got the lottery of diseases,” said Frank Tully of Spring Hill.
Tully used to paint houses for a living. Now just walking out of his house can be challenging. In 2012 he was diagnosed with Poems Syndrome.
“And I ended up with this rare blood cancer that went up to my knees and paralyzed me from the knees down, they were dead,” said Tully.
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Confined to a wheelchair at one point, Tully was in a dark place.
“Total despair, I wanted to walk again, after one year of sliding from the seat to the toilet to the bed back to the seat, never getting up,” said Tully.
Determined to not only beat the cancer but also regain his independence, Tully began inventing devices to help him carry everything from his tablet to a five-gallon bucket of water.
He is most proud of The xLanyard, consisting of Velcro and an adjustable leather strap, worn over your head and across your shoulder, it's designed to take the weight off your arms, and distribute it to the rest of your body.
“And you can wear it as a belt, you can take it and hold your hammer, your drill, everything you can think of as a belt,” said Tully.
Tully is in the process of obtaining a patent for The xLanyard and is already selling it online. He can’t wait to share it with the world.
“You got to get out and do something to help others and that’s what I do and that’s why I’m so blessed and that’s why I’m six and a half years in remission and that’s why I’m inventing stuff,” said Tully.
For more on The xLanyard go to https://iclasp.com/collections/xlanyard.
