Beyond Sweden’s afternoon highway traffic and through the quite backroads sits a house where one woman is hard at work.

It’s the place where Jill Glidden-VerWeire, owner of Jill Boutique salon in Brockport, sews together specially modified shoes. This comes after her life was changed forever

“July of 2014 my husband had a major stroke and he was paralyzed on the right side,” Jill said.

Her husband, Mike VerWeire, 58, a diesel mechanic ran into difficulties putting an AFO into his everyday shoe. Glidden-VerWeire defines an AFO as “a fiberglass foot brace.”

Glidden searched stores online and locally for a solution, only to find unfashionable Velcro sneakers. So with thread and a needle she created ZAFS (Zip Around Footwear). She introduced the first pair to her husband.

When the idea came about she went to Walmart to purchase a pair of boots along with zippers and immediately went to work with her new design.

“The shoe unzips from the inside and goes all the way around to the other side and it opens and you set your foot on the sole and that helps prevent the foot from rolling," Glidden-VerWeire said.

Glidden has modified nearly 20 pair for people all over the country, including for her neighbor Lori Burnett’s son, Stephen.

“I love my new shoes," Stephen said.

Lori’s sole-search didn’t last very long, and like many others who came to Glidden-VerWeire for modifications, it was through word of mouth or mutual friends.

“When she told me about it I was really, really excited,” said Lori.

Stephen, 23, like Jill’s husband, also has an AFO. He was 14 when he was hit by a car while riding his bike on the road near his front yard.

Lori said the collision was so bad that Stephen “busted his eye sockets, broke his nose and his brain just hit his skull so hard that he suffered a pretty traumatic brain injury.

Lori says because of Jill’s thoughtfulness, Stephen will now take the next big steps through life, another great feat for Stephen.

“Ooooh yeah,” Stephen acknowledged.

Jill says does not modify the shoes for profit, but has received donations. She hopes to one day design her own shoe line. If you would like to contact Jill her email is jilzy123@aol.com.