Chris Williams founded Hyperbaric Chambers after his infant son, Elijah, suffered a devastating brain injury. What began as one family's search for hope became a mission to help families worldwide.
Chris WilliamsFounder & CEO · Hyperbaric Chambers AustraliaChris Williams founded Hyperbaric Chambers Australia after his son, Elijah, suffered a brain injury. This is Chris’s personal account of the family experience that led him into chamber development.
It all began in Melbourne, Australia, in 2009, when I almost lost my two-month-old son, Elijah. It happened one afternoon when my partner went to check on him while he was sleeping in his cot and found that he had stopped breathing.
In a panic, we called the emergency line, and Elijah was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Children's Hospital here in Melbourne. On arrival, he was rushed into surgery, where he was immediately placed into an induced coma—a state in which he would remain for the next three months.
When the doctors finally brought him out of his deep sleep, the news that followed was devastating. We were told that our son had suffered irreversible brain damage and that there was nothing they could do. It was a challenging time, but nothing compared with what little Elijah was going through.
However, of all the diagnoses we were given that day by Australia's leading paediatric neurologists, the one that broke my heart was hearing that he had lost his sight. Elijah was blind.
I simply refused to accept what we were being told that day, and I set out to find a solution that would enable us to help our son's damaged brain repair.
After feverishly searching the internet for an answer, I came across something called hyperbaric oxygen therapy. I was amazed to hear about the results people were experiencing simply by using hyperbaric chambers.
Excited by what I had learned, I immediately began investigating how I could get my hands on the best and most advanced hyperbaric chamber available. I could not find an Australian facility willing to treat Elijah. One treatment quote we received was $25,000 for three months—a cost our family could not sustain.
As a parent, you would give anything to help your child. The prospect of ongoing costs at that level led me to keep searching for an option our family could afford.
“With no other option available, the only thing left for me to do was design my own.”
CHRIS WILLIAMS · FOUNDERSo began our journey to find a hyperbaric chamber that met the requirements I was looking for and was affordable for our family.
Yet again, we were left disappointed. I did not feel the systems I had found met what I was looking for. I wanted confidence in the operating equipment and in the manufacturer standing behind the complete system.
Frustrated, I turned to a company I found online and paid $7,000 for what I was led to believe would deliver both the pressure and oxygen levels we needed. It did not meet my expectations. With no other option available, the only thing left for me to do was design my own.
After two long and difficult years of research and development in the spare bedroom of our home, I had developed a portable hyperbaric chamber for our family.
When the time came for Elijah to take that first “dive,” my wife joined him inside to help calm and soothe him. But there was no need—he loved it.
It was the first time Elijah used the chamber we had developed.
The changes we noticed were gradual and subtle. Initially, he slept better and seemed more peaceful. Over time, we saw changes in his behaviour, comfort, walking and speech. Each step forward mattered enormously to our family.
We also saw Elijah regain his eyesight.
This is Chris’s personal account. It does not establish what caused those changes or predict another person’s outcome.
Our family’s experience changed the direction of my life. I left my job and turned my attention to developing the business. And so, the Eclipse Elite Hyperbaric Chamber was born.
The chamber I had developed for Elijah became part of a business serving customers in Australia and overseas. What began in our family home had grown into a much wider journey.
Throughout this amazing journey, I have always felt that there would come a time when I would help others help themselves and their loved ones.
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