CanDo.com Announces Merger with SpineWire.com

Posted on February 25, 2000

CanDo.com, a web community for people living with disabilities, has announced a merger with SpineWire.com. SpineWire.com is a web community serving people with spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, post polio and other central nervous disorders. The combined company will be called CanDo.com.

``The merger between SpineWire.com and CanDo.com is part of our overall strategy to be the dominant Internet destination to serve the disability community,'' says Mark Pinney, CEO of CanDo.com. ``The combined business addresses one of the largest disability groups, the mobility-impaired community, which represents nearly 40 percent of the U.S. audience. This merger not only makes sense for our investors but also for the global community we ultimately are committed to serve.''

Pinney, co-founder and CEO of LifeWire, Inc., the company that created and launched SpineWire.com, is an entrepreneur and businessman who has been living with a spinal cord injury for more than 10 years. Zaydoon Jawadi, the founder of CanDo.com, is also an entrepreneur and businessman. He will serve as CanDo.com's chairman.

LifeWire, Inc.'s other founder, Dr. Wise Young, a neuroscientist who runs the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neurosciences at Rutgers University, will join CanDo.com as Scientific Director, contributing editor and advisory board member. Sam Maddox, the editor-in-chief of SpineWire.com, will join CanDo.com's editorial team as Editor-In-Chief. Maddox is the author of Spinal Network, a seminal resource for spinal cord dysfunction, and founder of New Mobility Magazine. Others from LifeWire's management and editorial staff will join CanDo.com's management and editorial teams, advisory board and board of directors.

``CanDo.com is about convenience, utility and lifestyle opportunities to maximize individuals' independence and to help them access the tools for better daily living,'' said Jawadi. ``While our primary focus for our debut this spring is on the mobility-impaired population, we will also serve the hearing, vision and cognitive segments of the community.''

The CanDo.com site will also offer e-commerce, featuring products for people with disabilities. A privately-held company, CanDo.com provides personalized online tools, community, content, products, resources and services. CanDo.com is based in Sunnyvale, California.