About Us
Our story: Love And A Legacy
The call came late one night in the Fall of 2000.
“I need you,” Dean Wright said to Vivian.
The two had been longtime friends, dating back decades to when he was a pilot and she was a flight attendant, and now Dean was battling head and neck cancer.
Vivian immediately dropped her life in Arizona and moved to Florida to help Dean through months of radiation and chemotherapy.
Then came the tracheostomy. A port was put under Dean’s skin for IV/chemo delivery. A feeding tube was inserted in his stomach.
And Dean’s quality of life rapidly melted away.
Dean and Vivian both knew he needed to nebulize, to keep his nose and mouth and his tracheostomy moist. But Dean hated it. It was a laborious process, and he had to do it 10 times a day – five times for his tracheostomy and five times for his nose and mouth. Each time took 30 minutes, with a mask on Dean’s face, tethered to a nebulizer.
Dean started cutting back. At first, he’d wear only one of the masks for 15 minutes. Then he cut back to once a day. Then he completely stopped nebulizing his nose and mouth.
“Later,” he would tell Vivian when she urged him to nebulize.
Thick mucous clogged Dean’s mouth and his trach.
“His breathing was just very labored,” said Vivian, who married Dean on June 26, 2001. “It wasn’t enough.”
Finally, on an airplane flight, a piece of dry tissue got into Dean’s trach and clogged the tube.
“He started gagging for air,” Vivian said. “It was a horrible experience. All you could hear was Dean gagging for air. He was dying up there, and there was nothing I could do.”
Dean survived the flight, and Vivian checked him into the hospital for 48-hour inpatient nebulizing.
“When I took him home, I said, ‘Never again,’” Vivian said.
Gathering up twine, electrical and masking tape, elastic bands, extra medical tubes, hoses and spare face and tracheostomy masks, Vivian began piecing parts of her collection together. It was the beginning of the “Wright Mask”!
The mask allowed Dean to simultaneously nebulize his lower and upper respiratory systems. Ten sessions a day were cut to five. Now, Dean would be properly hydrated AND he would have 2 ½ hours free each day to spend with Vivian.
Dean was so happy he cried.
“Promise me you’ll patent this,” he told Vivian. “Promise me.”
And she did.
From that day on, Dean nebulized five times a day for 30 minutes each time. His nasal, mouth and trachea tissues were moist and healthy. Mucous and secretions were thin and easy to expel. Even Dean’s lungs felt better. He never again had to go the hospital for a costly nebulizing stay.
Dean died on March 30, 2002.
Since then Vivian has spent all her free time – nights and weekends – developing the Wright Mask for other trach patients.
“I absolutely can’t give up,” Vivian said. “In a way, this has been keeping Dean alive for me. And there’s nothing better than keeping alive somebody you love.”
But it’s even more than that. The Wright Mask has become part of Vivian, and it is her passion to get it into the hands of all trach patients, so they, too, can nebulize in half the time. In the end, Vivian said, all we have to hold on to is our quality life and hope. And what is quality of life but dignity?
“I feel so sorry for trach patients that don’t have it. They are losing out on a level of quality in their lives that they could have,” Vivian said. “Every trach patient deserves the opportunity to have this in their life.”
Behind the Wright Mask is Dean… Behind the Wright Mask is every Tracheostomy Patient.
The call came late one night in the Fall of 2000.
“I need you,” Dean Wright said to Vivian.
The two had been longtime friends, dating back decades to when he was a pilot and she was a flight attendant, and now Dean was battling head and neck cancer.
Vivian immediately dropped her life in Arizona and moved to Florida to help Dean through months of radiation and chemotherapy.
Then came the tracheostomy. A port was put under Dean’s skin for IV/chemo delivery. A feeding tube was inserted in his stomach.
And Dean’s quality of life rapidly melted away.
Dean and Vivian both knew he needed to nebulize, to keep his nose and mouth and his tracheostomy moist. But Dean hated it. It was a laborious process, and he had to do it 10 times a day – five times for his tracheostomy and five times for his nose and mouth. Each time took 30 minutes, with a mask on Dean’s face, tethered to a nebulizer.
Dean started cutting back. At first, he’d wear only one of the masks for 15 minutes. Then he cut back to once a day. Then he completely stopped nebulizing his nose and mouth.
“Later,” he would tell Vivian when she urged him to nebulize.
Thick mucous clogged Dean’s mouth and his trach.
“His breathing was just very labored,” said Vivian, who married Dean on June 26, 2001. “It wasn’t enough.”
Finally, on an airplane flight, a piece of dry tissue got into Dean’s trach and clogged the tube.
“He started gagging for air,” Vivian said. “It was a horrible experience. All you could hear was Dean gagging for air. He was dying up there, and there was nothing I could do.”
Dean survived the flight, and Vivian checked him into the hospital for 48-hour inpatient nebulizing.
“When I took him home, I said, ‘Never again,’” Vivian said.
Gathering up twine, electrical and masking tape, elastic bands, extra medical tubes, hoses and spare face and tracheostomy masks, Vivian began piecing parts of her collection together. It was the beginning of the “Wright Mask”!
The mask allowed Dean to simultaneously nebulize his lower and upper respiratory systems. Ten sessions a day were cut to five. Now, Dean would be properly hydrated AND he would have 2 ½ hours free each day to spend with Vivian.
Dean was so happy he cried.
“Promise me you’ll patent this,” he told Vivian. “Promise me.”
And she did.
From that day on, Dean nebulized five times a day for 30 minutes each time. His nasal, mouth and trachea tissues were moist and healthy. Mucous and secretions were thin and easy to expel. Even Dean’s lungs felt better. He never again had to go the hospital for a costly nebulizing stay.
Dean died on March 30, 2002.
Since then Vivian has spent all her free time – nights and weekends – developing the Wright Mask for other trach patients.
“I absolutely can’t give up,” Vivian said. “In a way, this has been keeping Dean alive for me. And there’s nothing better than keeping alive somebody you love.”
But it’s even more than that. The Wright Mask has become part of Vivian, and it is her passion to get it into the hands of all trach patients, so they, too, can nebulize in half the time. In the end, Vivian said, all we have to hold on to is our quality life and hope. And what is quality of life but dignity?
“I feel so sorry for trach patients that don’t have it. They are losing out on a level of quality in their lives that they could have,” Vivian said. “Every trach patient deserves the opportunity to have this in their life.”
Behind the Wright Mask is Dean… Behind the Wright Mask is every Tracheostomy Patient.
Our Mission
Our mission is to improve the quality of life of tracheostomy patients, their loved ones and their caregivers through efficient and effective humidification treatments through the use of The Wright Face & Tracheostomy Nebulizing Mask delivery system.
©2009 Wright Solutions LLC US Patent Nos. US 6,698,426 & US 7,836,884 B2- FDA REG. NO. 3006852036, ODS State of Florida Certified - Canadian Patent Pending - Australian & European Patents Pending - info@wrighttrachsolutions.com