Summary: William Donohoe turned an ostensibly fatal ailment into an opportunity to make his dreams come to life.<br> In January 2002, Donohoe was diagnosed with Arnold-Chiari malfunction (ACM), a congenital brain anomaly, which rendered him futile during the course of his operation and recovery. <br> He used his amelioration period to plan his shipping business aptly named The Shipping Shack.<br> <br> With the assistance of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation program, William Donohoe eventually established his company in September 9, 2005.<br> In addition, Donohoe was granted the SEE program by the Department of Human Resources for the state of Hawaii where minimum or 14 per cent of overall employee wage were reimbursed, significantly reducing costs, thus, increasing company viability.<br> He claims that there are government programs out there, designed to assist the public, which do not get proper publicity.<br> “I think that the word is not out there that some of these programs exist and a lot of times government money is not used. And I think the government in the State of Hawaii has these programs,” Donohoe said. “They need to publicize it more and let the private sector know that there is help available, which I believe they are starting to do now.”<br> Hear more about William Donohoe’s humble transition from employee to employer, as he talks about how he has overcome disability and be the man he only once dreamt of. <br> BIO:<br> William Donohoe’s story in his own words:<br> I am 48 years old. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. Single father of four sons. They were 6, 5, 4 and 2 when I got divorced and custody of them. They are now 25, 24, 23 and 21. All are on their own and doing extremely well. Their jobs include warehousing, working for NASA, a firefighter, and my youngest son attending HPU majoring in marine biology and also studying his first year of graduate school concurrent with his senior year.<br> For the past 19 years, I was employed by Federal Express. Started with FedEx in ‘ 86 in Columbus, Ohio. Approximately in ‘ 92, I transferred to Orlando, FL with my sons going with me. In April 2001, I transferred to here in Honolulu with Federal Express. My dream has always been to live in Honolulu, on the beach in Waikiki, and starting my own business after raising my sons. My youngest son Sean came over here with me to do his senior year in high school. He attended Mililani High School. His lifetime dream was to move to Hawaii and to do his senior year of high school to be considered as a Hawaiian resident for he wanted to attend college here in Hawaii and to major in marine biology. Upon completing his senior year at M.H.S. He was awarded Valid Victorian and offered full scholarships from UH Hilo and HPU both. He had done as to what his brothers had done. To receive full financial support to attend college. When Sean moved to HPU’s dorm, I moved down to Waikiki. At this point 2 of my 3 dreams had become a reality. My final dream of owning my own business came about in strange way.<br> In mid 2002, I started to experience extremely severe headaches and numbness on the left side of my body. Also, while driving, I started to have periods of blackouts and numbness going down to both feet. There were times as to where I could not feel the brake and/or accelerator. My job with federal Express at that time was handling restricted articles such as radioactive material and explosives primarily to the military bases. Due to being a risk to the public and myself, I had to report my conditions to my supervisor at FedEx. This was after being seen by a neurologist. The neurologist located a Lipoma Tumor at the base of my brain. In fact it is still there. FedEx had me go see the company doctor. He immediately placed me on medical disability pending the outcome of my medical situation. My neurologist said that this Lipoma, a fatty tissue tumor, was not the cause of my symptoms.
