halt, however, when a bicycling accident in 2010 left him with 10 pins and two rods in
his right leg and no memory of his life prior to that day. And instead of continuing to
work on jets and engineer solutions for his fellow outdoor workers, he found himself
with a medical separation from the military and a diagnosis that he’d never regain
memory of his first 19 years on the planet or walk without a limp.
That first part, unfortunately, came true. Even today, Gramlin still suffers from total
amnesia. But his limp has given way to multiple marathons, mountain-climbing treks
and ski trips. He also returned to his idea of heated-yet-dexterous gloves while attend-
ing the engineering program at Purdue. There, the concept was so well-received that
after graduation, he turned it into a business.
BABY STEPS; BIG GOALS
Like his efforts in Ghana, the coronavirus outbreak has forced Gramlin to put Hearth
on pause, as well, something he views as temporary, too. In the meantime, he’ll con-
tinue to help make respirator parts and fine-tune his mobile recycling machines.
After recovering from his accident, he said it feels like the next logical step. “I’ve
healed myself as much as I could, now I want to try to help a global problem,” he said.
“That’s a huge undertaking, but with what I went through, I feel like it’s the next level
for me to start to tackle.”
But he’s under no illusion that his one-man operation in Louisville is anything more
than a solid first step toward a big dream. “These are basic, simple machines I’m build-
ing in a few weeks,” he said. “But they’re like putting a band-aid on a wound. I want
to find an ultimate solution for this.”
May / June 2020
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