# RIP blinkie (Ask the guy with Locked In Syndrome) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981 "2009-11-10T01:29:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/161 "2009-11-18T02:55:56Z")
Wait, memoir? There’s a memoir? Damn, now we all want to see it. Please, pretty please, just a quick peak, no, seriously I know a publisher… ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/162 "2009-11-18T09:24:32Z")
My husband told me about this thread and I just now finished reading it in its entirety. Man **blinkie** , you rock! And **Mrs. Blinkie** and **blinkie’s kid** and **blinkie’s other kid** (you have 4, so what are the other two going to call themselves?). I hadn’t heard of LIS until I went to see the film **The Diving Bell and the Butterfly**. I’ve been meaning to read the book. Glad to hear you liked it. If you do Netflix the film, let us know what you think. > [@blinkie](#): > > Therapy takes place in my house and I make him watch Jon Stewart and Colbert. It makes him apoplectic. I laughed out loud and scared the cat! Could you tell us how you voted? I mean, I know you said you’re an Obamabot (yay!) but how did you physically vote? Did they make special allowances for you, and did Mrs. Blinkie go with you into the voting booth, or did you vote absentee ballot? At the risk of causing a mass groaning among Dopers, I hope you don’t mind if I [pass along the link to a video I made](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udAKU1u9DWw) featuring President Obama, with music by one of my favorite artists. I also think the lyrics would be just as powerful if applied to your so strong family. What an inspiration they (and you) are. > [@](#): > > This collective heart pushes the blood through my veins > Feeding my brain of energy > This collective heart is rushing life to my hands > From every land come synergy > > And I listen to it well, 'cause I put it out > I have some thoughts to sell > Based on love, based on decency > coming from a source I can’t begin to trace > > Not that reaching out is something physical > I’ve got to look about for everything > and all there ever was > My community is always here to comfort me > > … > > Round the corner lives information I > can turn around and give > Like a heart, recycling what comes in > and pulsing out the breath we take to live > > Let me know you all just like I know myself > I’ve got to hear the call from the great > wide-open space, > I’ll never be alone, I never was > > … Thanks for starting this thread. It’s wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/163 "2009-11-18T09:57:51Z")
Oh, I forgot to ask, you said you’d been in the same room with President Obama 3 times. When you have a chance, could you expand on that? What were the circumstances? Did he meet you, say anything to you? I’ll bet he’d really like you! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/164 "2009-11-18T13:16:04Z")
> [@blinkie\_s\_other\_kid](#): > > I agree, he needs to get this memoir out there! > [@elbows](#): > > Wait, memoir? There’s a memoir? > > Damn, now we all want to see it. > > Please, pretty please, just a quick peak, no, seriously I know a publisher… He’s submitted it for [the first issue of the resurrection of _teemings._](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=539302) I’m accepting submissions from the able-bodied as well. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/165 "2009-11-18T13:42:02Z")
> [@blinkie](#): > > That was very difficult for me to give up and is something I still struggle with. I would describe myself as shy before the stroke, certainly not gregarious. Maybe shy is the wrong word, introverted might be more like it. But it still drive’s me crazy when someone reads over my shoulder. Well, really, being Locked In, you can’t be more introverted than you are now … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/166 "2009-11-18T13:43:47Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > He’s submitted it for [the first issue of the resurrection of _teemings._](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=539302) > > I’m accepting submissions from the able-bodied as well. You’ll have room for other submissions after a 165 page memoir is submitted? :eek: (I know there’s some editorial work involved, but if blinkie’s memoir is anywhere near as entertaining as his post, you have a hell of a time figuring what to take out!) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/167 "2009-11-18T15:18:10Z")
Maybe there are plans to make the memoir a serial, over several issues? ---
**Author:** ![blinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@blinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/168 "2009-11-18T17:15:32Z")
Miz Tina If there’s one thing the Blinkie’s have learned from this is that when life throws you a curve, you can laugh or cry. We’ve done both. They require the same amount of energy. We chose laughter. Elelle Have been around lurking and will jump in from time to time Elbows I want in the worst way to tell you that the person you were caring for knew everything right up until the bitter end but the truth is I just don’t know. From what I have read people are aware. Good caregivers are so rare. I truly salute you! (Metaphorically of course) Equipoise I vote by absentee ballot, only because it’s easier. People go out of their way to make it easier for me if I show up in person but Mrs. Blinkie has to sign affidavits if she goes in the booth with me. The three times I saw Obama were in the Senate chamber. He was a junior Senator the first time and was presiding. The second time they were voting on something and the third time was during the campaign when he spoke out for expanded Veterans benefits. Although I can’t speak worth a damn yet, I can scream, sometimes at inappropriate times. So I don’t know if he saw me but he might have heard me. The Senate guards sure did. I screamed like a school girl at a Beatle’s concert when I saw him. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/169 "2009-11-18T17:31:54Z")
Is there a research umbrella that covers Locked In Syndrome? An organization that fund raises for research? Anything? Telethons, auctions, bake sales, corporate sponsors, celebrity endorsements? And if there isn’t, can we start one? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/170 "2009-11-18T19:18:54Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > You’ll have room for other submissions after a 165 page memoir is submitted? :eek: > > (I know there’s some editorial work involved, but if blinkie’s memoir is anywhere near as entertaining as his post, you have a hell of a time figuring what to take out!) Yup, it’s well written (thank god). At 35K words, it’s a little on the long side for our format, so I’ll be editing it down [honest, **blinkie** , I’m good – it’s just tidying it up a bit and trimming the word count, you really won’t be able to tell what I did] and running it in sections as a serial. ---
**Author:** ![JerseyFrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@JerseyFrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyFrank)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/171 "2009-11-18T19:57:03Z")
> [@blinkie](#): > > Games. Only simple ones like chess or scrabble. Fullscreen computer games like Civilization won’t work with my on screen keyboard. Where in NJ are you? If I could make it possible for you to use fullscreen games, would that interest you? I cannot promise it will be so, but I bet there’s a way to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/172 "2009-11-18T20:14:11Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Is there a research umbrella that covers Locked In Syndrome? An organization that fund raises for research? Anything? Telethons, auctions, bake sales, corporate sponsors, celebrity endorsements? > > And if there isn’t, can we start one? Not limited just to LIS, it appears. See at the bottom here: [http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/lockedinsyndrome/lockedinsyndrome.htm](http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/lockedinsyndrome/lockedinsyndrome.htm) ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/173 "2009-11-18T20:29:32Z")
**blinkie** , I just wanted to say that this thread has given me more hope and inspiration in these terrible days since my brother’s stroke than anything else I’ve read anywhere on the internet. I look forward to the next issue of _teamings_. ---
**Author:** ![JerseyFrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@JerseyFrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyFrank)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/174 "2009-11-18T20:36:06Z")
Ok, I’m caught up now… I just read you’re in Toms River. I grew up there. I don’t live there now, but I’m in Beachwood every other weekend. > [@blinkie](#): > > I have 4 kids 32,28,26,23 I’m 32, too. Did they go to public school in Toms River? I went to Walnut St Elementary, TRIS West (now North), and TRHS South. There’s probably a 50/50 chance that I’ll know or have met your eldest child. I see that you got Civilization working. I’ll try to look for the thread on that to see what you did as a solution. ---
**Author:** ![blinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@blinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/175 "2009-11-18T22:02:14Z")
Twickster Thanks for taking the time to read it! I am REALLY surprised you got around to it so quickly. I never edited it, so make all the changes you want. It is difficult for me to maintain a steady focus when I write anything because my typing is so slow. But anyway THANKS! JerseyFrank First that’s a very, very kind offer. [Any computer nerds willing to help a crip get into gaming? - The Game Room - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=540059) Is my other thread and as you can Dopers seem to have given me some solutions and I’m looking forward to having one of the kids install the games for me at Thanksgiving, but if there is a problem I will take you up on the offer. We moved to Toms River after my stroke. I’m a New Yorker, Brooklyn boy, who was living in Florida, and visiting family in Maplewood when I stroked. We never went home, (ah thanks to Twickster you’ll have to read the whole story. We stayed in Jersey because almost all of our support system is in the northeast. We are in Toms River now because we found a house here that was already accessible. I’m in Beachwood all the time, Beachwood Beach is my summer hangout. I’m easy to spot. I’m the only one on the beach with an Obama cap. Oh yeah and that wheelchair thing. Koeeoaddi Someone else has contacted me about a relative with LIS. Are they related to you? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/176 "2009-11-18T23:17:16Z")
Just saw this in _Time_ magazine - an invention that may someday be useful for you, **blinkie** : [http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027\_1934003\_1933954,00.html](http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933954,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![blinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@blinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/177 "2009-11-19T01:38:59Z")
I was going to try that about 4 years ago at Duke but funding for the projectwas cut by those non-science guys in the previous administration. The computer system I use now is quicker than that but I’m glad to see research has started again. They are VERY close here to mind control that could go much further. Navigation of wheelchairs and operation of robotic arms that can be controled mentally are only a few years away ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/178 "2009-11-19T03:12:08Z")
This is a tremendous thread, **Blinkie**. And not only yourself, but also Mrs. Blinkie and the various Blinkie kids have my fullest admiration: what a wonderfully strong family. You are a credit to the board, truly, and an education and an inspiration. Oh yes, and a good sense of humour! Big welcome. 🙂 Oh heck, you type SO well, yet I, despite lacking any excuse, first time typed “foulest” admiration. Oops, oops, and thrice oops. :smack: Well, only if it being 3. a.m here and past bedtime is an excuse but it isn’t much of one, no. 😃 Nothing real to contribute right now, but just hello and welcome. Will look forward to reading your book in “Teemings”, AND I bet it will end up being actually published as a real book, oh yes. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/179 "2009-11-19T03:32:16Z")
Blinkie, I don’t really have a question, but I wanted to join in and say welcome and thanks for posting. I’ve read this thread through from the top, and you’ve had me both laughing and crying at times. I’m glad you’re here, and I’m looking forward to your posts. And, I’m looking forward to reading your memoirs in _Teemings_. I do have to thank you for posting your thread about games you can play–thanks to some of the suggestions posted there for you, I’m having a blast re-acquainting myself with Zork, which I last played over twenty years ago. Odd what I can remember about it; but I’ll admit I’ve forgotten a lot. Anyway, I’m having fun with it all over again. I will state that I’ve learned a lot about LIS, which I had previously known very little about, from this thread. So you’re certainly helping in the fight against ignorance. (Don’t get your hopes up; it really is taking longer than we thought. :)) Again, welcome! ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981/180 "2009-11-19T04:14:21Z")
Wonderful thread, Blinkie. Your family sounds exceptional, I can see how their strength helped you keep yours. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-blinkie-ask-the-guy-with-locked-in-syndrome/516981.md?page=10)