Dr. Bryan Hartley

And I was shocked. Why? I said, listen, I haven't been trained on it. And in an emergency, I'm not going to go to something I've never seen and I've never practiced. Like, okay. So I looked and said, how do I get this for my facility so I can do this procedure? And it turns out at the time, there was only one place you could train to get proficient. And that was at Maryland Shock Trauma.

And I was shocked. Why? I said, listen, I haven't been trained on it. And in an emergency, I'm not going to go to something I've never seen and I've never practiced. Like, okay. So I looked and said, how do I get this for my facility so I can do this procedure? And it turns out at the time, there was only one place you could train to get proficient. And that was at Maryland Shock Trauma.

And I was shocked. Why? I said, listen, I haven't been trained on it. And in an emergency, I'm not going to go to something I've never seen and I've never practiced. Like, okay. So I looked and said, how do I get this for my facility so I can do this procedure? And it turns out at the time, there was only one place you could train to get proficient. And that was at Maryland Shock Trauma.

They had a course. It was once a month, maybe. And I think they had a carrying capacity of 20 people because they were doing it on cadavers. And, you know, I did some quick math for the number of trauma surgeons in the country and And the opportunity cost to take off work and fly over to Maryland Shock Trauma and do the course and everything. And this was never going to work.

They had a course. It was once a month, maybe. And I think they had a carrying capacity of 20 people because they were doing it on cadavers. And, you know, I did some quick math for the number of trauma surgeons in the country and And the opportunity cost to take off work and fly over to Maryland Shock Trauma and do the course and everything. And this was never going to work.

They had a course. It was once a month, maybe. And I think they had a carrying capacity of 20 people because they were doing it on cadavers. And, you know, I did some quick math for the number of trauma surgeons in the country and And the opportunity cost to take off work and fly over to Maryland Shock Trauma and do the course and everything. And this was never going to work.

So I went to the website of the company and they had a contact form. And so I just filled out that little contact form and said, you guys have a huge problem. I want to use your product and I can't. You guys need a surgical trainer. And my phone rang within 10 minutes. It was the CEO of that company who I'm still friends with today. And he said, who the hell are you?

So I went to the website of the company and they had a contact form. And so I just filled out that little contact form and said, you guys have a huge problem. I want to use your product and I can't. You guys need a surgical trainer. And my phone rang within 10 minutes. It was the CEO of that company who I'm still friends with today. And he said, who the hell are you?

So I went to the website of the company and they had a contact form. And so I just filled out that little contact form and said, you guys have a huge problem. I want to use your product and I can't. You guys need a surgical trainer. And my phone rang within 10 minutes. It was the CEO of that company who I'm still friends with today. And he said, who the hell are you?

And so we got to talking and he said, I believe you. I believe we need a surgical trainer. Can you make one? And in that moment, I told a very important lie. I said that I could. And he said, okay, email me back when you're done. Yeah, so I said I could do it. And so I canceled my plans for that. I was so excited. Canceled my plans for that weekend.

And so we got to talking and he said, I believe you. I believe we need a surgical trainer. Can you make one? And in that moment, I told a very important lie. I said that I could. And he said, okay, email me back when you're done. Yeah, so I said I could do it. And so I canceled my plans for that. I was so excited. Canceled my plans for that weekend.

And so we got to talking and he said, I believe you. I believe we need a surgical trainer. Can you make one? And in that moment, I told a very important lie. I said that I could. And he said, okay, email me back when you're done. Yeah, so I said I could do it. And so I canceled my plans for that. I was so excited. Canceled my plans for that weekend.

went to Home Depot, bought a $5 Homer bucket and started to carve and used everything I had learned from making the surgical trainers before to make a human torso with a groin with tubing that you could cannulate and whose life you could save. And I was very proud of it. I sent him photographs of it. He said, Topher, this looks pretty amateurish. But I like where you're going.

went to Home Depot, bought a $5 Homer bucket and started to carve and used everything I had learned from making the surgical trainers before to make a human torso with a groin with tubing that you could cannulate and whose life you could save. And I was very proud of it. I sent him photographs of it. He said, Topher, this looks pretty amateurish. But I like where you're going.

went to Home Depot, bought a $5 Homer bucket and started to carve and used everything I had learned from making the surgical trainers before to make a human torso with a groin with tubing that you could cannulate and whose life you could save. And I was very proud of it. I sent him photographs of it. He said, Topher, this looks pretty amateurish. But I like where you're going.

It's the vision, right? You generated a prototype, basically. Exactly. And it contained all the elements that you need as an operator, which is not, again, it goes back to the... It's not for sales, right? This is for just get it done. Exactly. And he said, can you do a better job of that? Can you make it look like it's commercial? And I said... yeah, I think I can.

It's the vision, right? You generated a prototype, basically. Exactly. And it contained all the elements that you need as an operator, which is not, again, it goes back to the... It's not for sales, right? This is for just get it done. Exactly. And he said, can you do a better job of that? Can you make it look like it's commercial? And I said... yeah, I think I can.

It's the vision, right? You generated a prototype, basically. Exactly. And it contained all the elements that you need as an operator, which is not, again, it goes back to the... It's not for sales, right? This is for just get it done. Exactly. And he said, can you do a better job of that? Can you make it look like it's commercial? And I said... yeah, I think I can.

And so I went back to the drawing board, decided I was going to get a credit card for this effort, went into a couple thousand dollars worth of debt making it, but came back with a really slick looking version of the product.

And so I went back to the drawing board, decided I was going to get a credit card for this effort, went into a couple thousand dollars worth of debt making it, but came back with a really slick looking version of the product.