Wheels
For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall
roll on, until all His promises shall be fulfilled.
Mormon 8-22
When most babies
were learning to crawl on all fours, Evan learned to “commando crawl.” That is,
he dragged his body along the floor with his arms. When most babies are
learning to walk, Evan was still doing his commando crawl. This was the time we had to come to grips with
the fact that Evan was not going to be able to walk. Evan was outfitted with
braces that allowed him to stand up. He was also provided with crutches. Yours truly
made a set of parallel bars that enabled him to maneuver back and forth.
Eventually, the
doctors pointed out that walking with braces and crutches required two things. First,
a great amount of effort is required. To move one step, he had to lift his
entire body weight and swing himself forward. When he was older, he was
outfitted with reciprocating braces.
These braces enabled him to walk better and faster. However, a great
amount of effort was still required. The second issue was also unavoidable; walking
with any set of braces uses both arms. His hands would not be available for
anything else. Hence, they wrote a prescription for a wheelchair.
Parents just can’t
go to the local drugstore and buy an adequate wheelchair for their child. It
has to be lightweight. The seat cushion has to be the right size. The backrest
must be the right height. The footrest must be adjusted to hold his feet in
place. An expert measured Evan and provided the specifications to the wheel
chair manufacturer. In a matter of weeks, Evan was sitting in his first custom
made wheel chair.
Have you ever heard
the phrase, “confined to a wheel chair?” I certainly had. Now, I was distraught
over seeing my youngest son in a wheel chair. Evan was about to adjust my
attitude.
Evan quickly
learned to use the wheel chair. In fact, he was all smiles. For the first time
in his life, he could move about without wearing himself out. And he had the
use of his hands. The icing on the cake was found at Costco. Costco is a big
box store that sells stuff in bulk, such as groceries. Cindy and I took Evan
shopping with us, with him in his wheel chair. While we were looking at
something, Evan realized that Mommy and Daddy weren’t paying any attention to
him. It’s time to take off on this smooth concrete floor. We heard laughter. We
looked up to see Evan rushing down the aisle. Other customers were dodging this
wild little boy in his wheelchair. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Laughing
is a lot more fun, so I laughed.
“Confined to a
wheelchair?” NOT.
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| Evan's first Wheelchair |
To go where a wheelchair
could not go, we bought a “baby jogger.” This is a three wheel contraption with
a seat for the young child. It was lightweight, with big wheels. An adult could
easily push this along a well paved street. Or, with some extra effort, the
same adult could push it over many other surfaces. When an adult wasn’t
available, I did the pushing. I just didn’t push the jogger, I pushed the
envelope. Until he outgrew the jogger, we took him to the beach, up hills and
mountains, through the woods and along canyon rims. We went to Bryce Canyon,
but I decided it was too dangerous to go down the steep canyon. So, alas, there
were some limitations. But it did greatly expand Evan’s world.
When he was older,
an organization called Athletes Helping Athletes gave him a hand cycler. This
is essentially a three wheeled bike, with the front wheel turned by his hands. A
local bike trail, the Bob Jones Bike Trail, is an excellent path for a hand
cycler. After about two sessions, Evan was able to hand cycle faster than Cindy
and I could walk. This satisfied his need for speed. One day, he was speeding
down a downhill, curvy section, with a lot of bumps. He overturned. Katie and
her husband Brad were with him when it happened. Thanks to his helmet, he wasn’t
hurt too bad. He just suffered a minor concussion. However, his helmet had
quite the gash in it. So what? Helmets are replaceable and this one paid for
itself several times over. Katie and Brad felt bad. Cindy and I weren’t happy
it happened, but we were philosophical about it. Some of Evan’s brothers and
sisters had accidents that produced minor concussions, so we saw this as a part
of a normal life.
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| Hand cycling speed demon |
Later, it was recommended
that Evan be provided a power wheelchair. I was reluctant to get him a power
chair because using the manual chair was good exercise. However, he could go
farther on the power chair and over more surfaces, such as grass, hard dirt,
and gravel. He could also go up steeper climbs without assistance. With this
increase in independence, we went ahead and got the power chair. Fortunately
for us, insurance paid for most of it. If you visit our house, you will see a number
of gouges on the lower walls. This is normal for our type of household. The
power chair plus Evan weighs about three hundred pounds, so in a plaster wall versus
machine encounter, the wall always loses. He actually maneuvers the machine
very well. Even in dense crowds, he rarely hits anyone. He is on his second
power chair. This one also has the ability to lift the seat up a couple of
feet. This is a very useful feature.
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| Power Chair |
Today, we let Evan
decide whether to use a manual chair or his power chair. When we travel, we
often take both his power chair and manual chair.
If you ask “How
does he get it into the house?” you have asked a good question. We have a
wooden wheelchair ramp. My friends in the church helped build it.
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