In December 2005, Susan Seekatz from HealthBridge Children’s Hospital in Orange, California visited Boston College to try out EagleEyes to see if it would work for “my girls.” She later wrote the following letter to the Opportunity Foundation of America requesting an EagleEyes system:

I am 3. I am 4. My name is Nubira. My name is Brianna. I have Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1. I breathe through this thing in my throat. I eat through a tube in my tummy. This is all I have ever known, so I guess it’s OK.

I live in a place called HealthBridge. I have my own room. That’s good, but I get real bored all by myself.

I want to talk. I want to play. My body won’t let me. My family comes to see me all the time and they keep trying to get me to do things. Don’t they know I want to? I just can’t. They get real sad. I wish I had a way to tell them things, to learn to read and to play Barbie.

I heard my teacher say I need a computer. She said I could work it with my eyes. That’s good cuz I move my eyes all the time. I know how to look at things when people ask me to. The problem with that is it’s NO FUN!

My teacher, Miss Susan, says she wants to get me this computer thing, but needs to find someone who will pay for it. I don’t know what that means. I just want to start using it!

So….could you get me the thing I need to talk with my eyes? It would make my family happy. It would make my teacher happy. And I would be REALLY happy too!

Thanks a bunch and xoxoxoxox….