MILWAUKEE (SPECTRUM NEWS)— A Navy veteran now has a new outlook on life thanks to the innovation of the Milwaukee VA.

Jim Borelli knows all too well what it means to sacrifice his freedom.

 “I was happy I served. I was 19 years old from a small town,” Navy Veteran, Jim Borelli said.

He served in the Vietnam War aboard the USS Kitty Hawk. But now, he’s fighting a different kind of battle after a terrible fall in March of 2018.

“It was a little after eight at night and I was going upstairs. I got to the top of the stairs and I felt myself falling backward,” Borelli said.

Jim tumbled down an entire flight of stairs in his home.

“I tried to get up and I couldn’t feel anything,” Borelli said.

Jim broke three vertebrae in his upper spine, leaving him a quadriplegic. At 70 years old, Jim decided he wasn’t going to let this define him. 

He had hoped that he would find a way to regain his freedom so that his wife Karen wouldn’t have to push him around everywhere they went.

“It came with a standard like the little round one. Because of the way my hands are positioned, my hands would slip off I would go like a foot and my hand would slip off,” Borelli said.

But thanks to the brilliance and creativity of the Milwaukee VA, Jim can now operate his wheelchair.

“We looked at his available range of motion and the movement that he had and we decided we could make him a 3D printed joystick,” Milwaukee VA assistant technology director, Katie Schultz said.

Schultz created a 3D block in place of a joystick to fit Jim’s needs. It was the first item the Milwaukee VA 3D printed.

“There’s not a whole lot to it but it works and it works for me,” Borelli said.

It was a touching moment for Schultz who created this joystick for Jim to use.

“It’s amazing it’s so rewarding. You go home at the end of the day and say yes I affected a change like I literally helped someone have a more independent life… it’s awesome,” Schultz said.

So from here on out, Jim has every intention to let freedom ring. Even if that freedom means tearing it up through his neighborhood at a roaring three miles per hour.

“Put me in the chair and put me out the door and I am good for 15 miles because that’s what the battery holds,” Borelli said.

He now has a new outlook on life and always finds a way to put a positive spin on any situation

“I feel comfortable where I can go by myself I don’t need a caregiver to push me around,” Borelli said.

The Milwaukee VA says it took about two hours to print the joystick for Jim and it only cost about three dollars.