The Ark P.C.B. was founded based upon my fundamental faith in God, the love for my family, and a desire to use my primary talents to benefit others. My nephew, David Beirne, suffers from Erb's Palsy. Erb's Palsy is a neurological condition that is caused by a physician applying excessive traction to a baby's head and neck during the delivery process. This excessive traction results in injury to a nerve bundle in the body known as the brachial plexus.

At the time David was delivered, his doctors applied too much traction to his head and neck resulting in the avulsion of his 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th cervical nerves. Simply put, these nerve roots were torn from his cervical spine. The injury rendered him unable to bend his left arm or to shrug his left shoulder. His left hand was also permanently positioned so that his thumb flared away from his body. The injury also prevented neural signals from reaching his phrenic nerve, rendering his left diaphragm useless. Practically, this meant that he was breathing with little more than one lung.

At six months of age, David underwent multiple surgical procedures at the Children's Hospital in St. Louis. One of the operations included the removal of chest muscle nerves that were then transplanted near his left underarm. This procedure allowed nerve signals to reach his left arm by creating a "bypass" around the injured cervical nerves. David's diaphragm was also "placated". The placation of the diaphragm was achieved with the implantation of a nerve into his diaphragm and then surgically securing the left side of his diaphragm. This allowed greater expansion of his left lung. The surgical team told us that David was the first baby in North America to have this procedure.

David's family was told that if his bicep was not firing after two years, it probably never would. As such, David immediately began an intense course of physical and occupational therapy. His course of therapy lasted for five years.

After three years of therapy, David was able to bend his arm and the pronation of his hand has been corrected. At that time we had no conclusive proof as to whether the left side of his diaphragm was functioning. At age five, David underwent a tendon transfer operation which gave his left arm a greater range of motion.

David is now 9 years old. He is currently dealing with the atrophied muscles around his left shoulder and scapula because he is unable to raise his arm over his head. The shoulder is slightly dislocated. David undergoes electric stimulation therapy to increase muscle mass in those areas once daily and at night when he sleeps.

During this extensive course of medical treatment and recovery, David's family recognized that he would benefit from a compression brace, a brace to support his left arm. To our dismay, we found no commercial product available to meet the specific needs of such a young child.

Necessity being the mother of invention, we decided to develop a product ourselves. The custom brace that we developed for David is worn during the day. The brace supports and stimulates the shoulder muscles into flexing his upper arm back into the shoulder joint. David's condition has improved. In his rookie baseball year David has been on the All-Star team, he catches and throws with his right hand. David has just finished his first soccer season and he also loves to swim.

As we watched David's condition improve, we decided that we could help other children like David. David is the true inspiration in the creation of this company. This is why I founded "The Ark P.C.B.". We are excited at the possibilities the company can offer disabled children and their parents. David reaps the benefits of his compression brace on a daily basis, and we believe that other children will reap the same benefits.