Kicked in a Benjamin Franklin portrait for the cause; even though the chair cost is taken care of, it will need maintenance. I am Butch/56sedandelivery-Lyle "Butch" Du Pree by donation.
Ya,I just saw this,so Do understand! Feels good knowing. High five too all ! My wife in that boat,so to say!, I went through some big hoops getting her a chair that would work for us. Her bad stroke 21 years back took her right side of body control an some ability to talk, one hand an one leg works along with very limited other lag/just enough to transfer from chair to bed or crapper by her self. The right fit chair is must,or life sucks even more. Even after getting a good fit{ took 3,an had to be folding type to go in car,,you'd think this is not a prob. ,it was too heavy for me(78YO) to pick up an place in our station wagon to take her anywere ,with out big strain. Also too move around with her one leg n hand to have some feel of independents*,she had to have big wheels=rolls EZ vs small wheel far cheeper chairs. A lite Wt. all alum chair was not covered,but God bless , family friend knew a Church group that helped out. So chair Wt. went from over 45lbs. to less then 20lbs. so I can take it in n out of car ,when taking her to Dr. an things like that. Points being,lot of factors we don't even know about,if not in the know!
Yeah I'm in... tell the insurance company we said hi! My wife just had another stroke. It was her third. Nobody should have to go through that. Go get Matthew a nice chair.
Lost my right hip/leg in 2014 to bone cancer. Tossed a few bucks your way. Been there, done that. Best of luck Matthew!
A very well respected bicycle component designer, fabricator, and manufacturer, Phil Wood ( RIP ), started building hubs, etc., for chairs many years ago. He saw what was out there, and thought he could do better. A quote attributed to him was, as I remember, "People who design wheelchairs should be forced to live in them first". I work on wheelchair wheels occasionally, and see a lot of variety in what people use, and I can tell you, there's good, and there's bad in wheelchairs. Good story, hope his new chair works out well for him.
Met a guy in college who built an off road wheelchair using fat bike wheels and tires so he could go hunting again. Turned into a fairly successful business venture, pretty impressive piece of engineering and craftsmanship! I had a massive stroke about 18 years ago; no health issues or family history, just hit me out of the blue. Somehow I got up and walked away from that one, but according to the specialist I saw in Boston, for the amount of brain damage I have, it should have killed me, and I shouldn't even be functional, but here I am. I guess God wants to keep me around for the entertainment value. I still have a bit of a limp and minor dexterity issues on my left side, stairs are problematic, and I tend to get disoriented easily, but I'm still active with running and mountain biking, work, and various projects.
My oldest son has been in a wheelchair for 30 years from a head injury at wrestling practice. He lives with it every day. But he never gives up. Let's help this guy.
I only had one cousin my own age. He had MD and was in a chair by his teens. Every summer he'd come stay with me for a week. I'd take him out in the boat with my buddies, take him to parties and throw a bunch of hot chicks on his lap, and dump margaritas down him, etc. At his funeral I told his mom that and she said "no wonder he loved goin to visit so much!", lol. He worked as a tour guide at an airplane museum, had his own apartment at a home where he got a little help as needed, but was pretty much self sufficient. . I never once in my life heard him complain. Ever. About anything. He was an amazing guy, who loved airplanes and hot rods, and I wish I could drive him around in my Ford now. So this story hit home. Donated. Thanks for putting this forward Ryan.
My wife also has been in a manual wheelchair for over 30 years. I have a wheelchair boneyard in the garage to build from. Around here there are several outlets that dispense used medical equipment, free. Steel chairs are abundant but lightweights, like Quickies, are also around. Here we are 25 or so years ago, somewhere in Idaho, with a chair I built for motorcycle riding.
The Jalopy Journal
