Rise Above by Ralph W. Braun

Imagine it’s 1946, you are six years old and on your way back home after a visit with doctors in a big hospital a long way from home. You are not really sure why you had to go, but it is what your Mom and Dad wanted you to do. Unbeknownst to you, your parents are concerned about you because you don’t walk, run, climb steps, get up from the floor, and other actions the way other kids your age do. Also not known by you at the time, the doctors told your parents you have Muscular Dystrophy and your life will most likely end before you become a teenager. The doctors asked your parents to let you stay with them at the hospital so they could basically, use you for research. But your parents would not agree to that and insisted you go home with them where they would care for you no matter what was to come. While on the way back, your parents stopped by to visit your Aunt and Uncle who live in a town about 25 miles from home. One of your cousins overheard your Mom and Dad tell your Aunt and Uncle what the doctors told them about your prognosis. Shortly after that is when you first learned what the doctors had to say, from your cousin. “You have a disease and probably won’t live to be a teenager” he told you. After a million thoughts race through your mind, you tell yourself “I am going to Rise Above this”.

As you get older it becomes more difficult to walk and finally you lose your ability to walk at all. But you are constantly thinking of ways that will help you maintain your independence. With a developing mechanical aptitude and support from your family you engineer, develop, and build an electric mobility cart powered with batteries. This contraption allows you to regain your mobility and become less dependent on others to help you get around. After a few revisions and improvements the mobility cart was noticed by others who either could benefit from or knew someone who could use one. Slowly, more and more people are asking for you to build them a mobility cart, that the name “Tri Wheeler” becomes known far and wide. By now, with the assistance of your Tri Wheeler you are able to get a job. The next obstacle you face is the desire to drive and take your recent invention along, but you need a way to get your Tri Wheeler into a vehicle and then be able to drive the vehicle. Soon after you are able to a purchase an old postal jeep, then install a lift on the back to allow you to enter the vehicle with your Tri Wheeler, and some mechanical hand controls to help you drive.  As Willie Nelson would sing, you were “On the Road Again, Going Places That You’ve Never Been”. This was the beginning of another product of an up and rising company that eventually became the Braun Corporation, who will soon celebrate their 50th anniversary. The person behind that corporation and the person I have been describing is Ralph Braun. Ralph is pictured above along with Lu Ann, Charissa, and Gerry Davis taken about a month before his 70th birthday which was December 18th 2010. Ralph has been and remains at the helm of the Corporation as CEO. Today Braun has 700 employees, over 200 US dealers, and has product sales on 4 continents.  He is married, the Father of four children and is a grandfather.  In the last year, Ralph has written a book, Rise Above, the story of his life’s journey to date. He also started the Ralph Braun Foundation, whose mission is to help provide accessible transportation for those without the financial resources to purchase BraunAbility products.

To help kick off the foundation, Ralph sold two special corvettes. They were sold at the world famous Barrett Jackson Auction in Las Vegas last September. To top it off, the cars were bought by a long time Braun dealer and donated back to the foundation. A video clip of the sale can be seen Here.  They will be sold again for the foundation at the next Barrett Jackson Auction in Scottsdale Arizona. More information about Ralph’s Book or the Foundation can be found at www.braunability.com or www.ralphbraunfoundation.org

We enjoyed the visit we had with Mr. Braun in October and until we meet again, Happy Birthday Ralph, and congratulations on your new Rise Above book.