Employed quadriplegic needs new wheelchair
December 24, 2004
By JoNel Aleccia
Mail Tribune
EDITOR'S NOTE: Light One Candle is an annual feature that focuses on the single need of an individual, family or agency during the holidays.
The 44-year-old Ashland man has been in a wheelchair since he was 13, when a gunshot damaged his spinal cord and left him a quadriplegic.
Despite his injury, he has maintained an active life, including a job at a call center, working for one of the Rogue Valley's largest employers.
He's afraid that job will be in jeopardy, however, because his 11-year-old wheelchair is on the verge of collapse.
"For him, mobility is priceless," says Glory Cooper, executive director of Mobility Unlimited in Medford, a nonprofit agency that provides durable medical equipment to working adults.
The man needs a new 24-inch Quickie 2 manual wheelchair. It's a priority because his old chair is not only difficult to navigate, it's dangerous. The price of a new wheelchair is $2,500. That's not much money to some, but on this man's salary, it's beyond his means.
"This man was a perfect candidate for our durable medical equipment program," Cooper says. "He is employed, physically disabled, needs mobility equipment and is an uninsured adult who has exhausted all other financial resources available to him."
Donations of a chair or money to purchase one are welcome. Contact Mobility Unlimited, 1214 Stowe Ave., Medford, OR 97501.
Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465.
