Meet Jake.
Our Founder, Jake Haendel
Our co-founder, Jake Haendel is the only documented survivor of Acute Toxic Progressive Leukoencephalopathy and spent 10 months suffering from Locked-In syndrome (LIS), a coma you are conscious through. Following a 4-year recovery in various hospitals, he saw the broad and varied needs of individuals who have disabilities, and understood the challenges that they face through his own experience as he began to once again live independently.
“For 10 months, Jake was trapped in his own body for experiencing something called locked-in syndrome, and was believed to effectively be brain dead.”
Following Jake’s incredible recovery, his eyes were opened to the significant and varied challenges that individuals with disabilities experience. There is no truly effective solution on the market today, and his experience since his illness revealed just how extensive and diverse the needs of disabled individuals can be. Nearly 1 in 4 in the U.S. struggle with some type of physical or cognitive limitation. Each Ahoi team member has a personal connection to our mission through friends and family members who have experienced varying challenges from disabilities, and ardently believe this is something that should exist in the world.
The most explicit signal that this is something people need is the consistent, enthusiastic reaction we have received from our target audience and organizations who are dedicated to supporting them. We recently partnered with MassAbility (F/K/A Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission) to rapidly expand across the state. They provided funding to compensate disabled individuals from their client base to conduct thousands of reviews, and did this due to their belief in Ahoi’s team, product, and the impact we can have on the individuals that they serve.
Hear from Jake
Jake regularly shares his inspiring story, the innovative company he's building, and its mission-driven focus through speaking engagements. To learn more about hosting Jake or the Ahoi team for an event, please reach out to discuss details.
Jake in the News
Watch: CBS News Sunday Morning
When 28-year old Jacob Haendel was rushed to a Massachusetts emergency room four years ago, doctors thought the one-time chef, as young as he was, was having a stroke. But he wasn't; his scans showed something very different, and very strange: Jake's brain seemed to be unplugging itself from the rest of his body.
Snap Judgment Podcast: Impossible Weight
When no one can hear you and nobody sees you anymore, how do you tell the world you are still there? One man’s impossible journey back to the world that forgot him.
'Is anybody in there?' Life on the inside as a locked-in patient
Jake Haendel spent months trapped in his body, silent and unmoving but fully conscious. Most people never emerge from ‘locked-in syndrome’, but as a doctor told him, everything about his case is bizarre
by Josh Wilbur for the Guardian
