'Game changer': Cedar City brothers buy cushion company to help wheelchair users

CEDAR CITY — When Jarom Hlebasko heard that the cushion manufacturer for his wheelchair was closing, he was devastated.

"I started to panic and my heart just sank," Hlebasko said. "It just destroyed me. My heart dropped. My hopes vanished."

Hlebasko has been wheelchair-bound as a quadriplegic due to an accident that happened 25 years ago while playing in the snow the winter after high school graduation.

"I was jumping around like a regular teenager," he recalled. "I had a couple other friends with me. I remember getting back to the car (to leave) and I decided that I was going to jump in the snow one more time."

It was during that last jump when Hlebasko ended up hitting his head on a hill that was hidden by snow. Immediately, he knew that it wasn't good.

"I didn't dive in the snow, but with that incline that was there, I hit my head and broke my neck and shattered the C5 vertebrae," he said.

Jarom Hlebasko's younger brother, Jake Hlebasko, remembers that night well.

"I was about 16 when the accident happened," Jake Hlebasko said. "It was really hard for me to grasp, and I was very much in denial. I thought that a miracle was going to take place in our life and he was going to walk right out of that hospital.

"When he came home, life as we knew it had completely changed."

Jake Hlebasko recalled taking care of his brother while their parents were away and said he had to set alarms to check on him.

"The rare occasion my parents got out, I got to take care of Jarom for a night or two, which was hard," Jake Hlebasko recalled. "I remember setting an alarm for the middle of the night so that I could rotate him so he didn't get bed sores."

Bed sores, also known as pressure sores, result from prolonged pressure on certain parts of the body, particularly over bony areas. Jarom Hlebasko described these sores as being "absolutely horrible."

"When you go on long trips, and you're in the car and you're just like, 'OK, it's time to get out of the car and shake things out to get circulation going.' That's what happens with pressure sores. When you feel that uncomfortableness, that's the skin and the muscle on bone, and it's a lack of circulation.

"Being a quadriplegic, I can't feel that anymore," he continued. "What happens is that the breakage of muscle and tissue, and skin starts to happen because there's no circulation. And when you have pressure, that's when you have pressure sores."

He's had five surgeries to repair damage due to pressure sores alone.

"Once the skin breaks open, you can get a staff infection and surgery is required to clean the infection and repair the wound," Hlebasko explained. "Over the years, I've had five severe instances where I've required surgery, and you're down in bed for four to six months."

Hlebasko said he has spent years in bed due to these sores, and he found himself desperate for relief.

"I had been through it all, and I didn't know what else to do," he said. "So I started looking around the internet, and I thought, 'Wouldn't it be awesome if there was some type of alternating pressure relief cushion?'"

He stumbled upon a cushion system called Aquila Corp., which had what he was looking for. He said the cushions are custom-fit not only to an individual's size, but also tailored to the specific areas of concern. He also said that the cushion uses technology that automatically releases pressure every 60 seconds, providing "constant circulation relief."

"It was a game changer," Hlebasko said. "You wouldn't expect that a piece of technology would push you over the edge of having family time. My kids have seen me in bed for months. ... I have had to watch soccer games from bed. I want to be there and so do others who are in my situation."

For the last seven years, Hlebasko had no pressure sores.

"It was kind of radio silent for a while, which was kind of nice for him to not hear about pressure sores and surgeries," Jake Hlebasko said of his brother.

In 2024, however, there was another silence that caused Jarom Hlebasko to panic. When he tried to contact the company to get another cushion, there was no response.

"I was desperate, so I reached out one more time, and they finally got back to me, saying they weren't going to make the cushions anymore," he said. "Then, my crazy mind went to, 'Would you be interested in talking to me about selling it?'

"So, I reached out to my brother, who is a pilot in Tennessee, who had been looking for businesses to invest in." After some discussion with the previous owner, the brothers made a deal.

"As I've watched Jarom suffer, it has given me a soft spot for anyone with a disability — especially those in a wheelchair. On flights, I will seek those people to see if I can help in any way to make them more comfortable. When Jarom asked if I would partner with him on this — it was a yes for me."

The two have been operating the seat cushion systems company for the past six months, and both said it's brought them closer as they've been able to help others in the community.

"I can't tell you how many people I've talked to who are grateful that we didn't let this product fizzle out," Jake Hlebasko said.

"It's about quality of life, and (Jake) did this for me, and for so many others," Jarom Hlebasko said. "Between my parents, my wife, my kids and my brother, they've given me the best life I can ask for."

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