The wheelchair lift van is a necessity to anyone who is wheelchair bound; without it any kind of normalcy is beyond reach.
Sarah was a beautiful 17 year old girl in her senior year in high school. She was popular, very pretty, and extremely smart. She was on the cheerleading team, and involved in all of the school events. She and some of her girlfriends were leaving the school to go over to Sarah’s house to practice some cheers for the upcoming football game. As Sarah was driving home, a School Bus pulled right out in front of Sarah’s car, and Sarah was not able to stop. The car was totaled and Sarah was the only one that was hurt.
Sarah was in ICU with very serious brain injuries. They were not sure that she would make it. After a few weeks Sarah came to, but as they had feared there was some brain damage, and her neck had been broken. She was in the hospital and in a rehab facility for almost a year. They said that she would be in a wheelchair the rest of her life and be barely able to move the tiniest part of her limbs. Sarah was finally able to go home in a wheelchair, but she did not walk, talk, or even look the same. She started having seizures, and this took a greater toll on her and she could no longer eat food.
When Sarah went home her parents had already gotten a wheelchair lift van for her. This was the only way to transport her, as she had many medical appointments, and she also went back to school to graduate even in her wheelchair and accompanied by a nurse. She still could not talk or walk, and even her sight had gone bad in one eye. She was still quite book smart, and thanks to the wheelchair lift van Sarah did get to graduate a year later, with honors.
Sarah communicated with a beeper, and beeped out words or phrases, and she would answer with her eyes as well. She loved to go shopping, and her mom would take her to the mall even though she was in a wheelchair that was heavy and cumbersome, she could load her by herself into that wheelchairs lift van. They tried to keep Sarah as active as they could, and she received rehab at home for many years. Sarah’s health would continue to go through bad periods, and she had many surgeries, but as long as she could get out of the house she did not always feel left out of things by being in the wheelchair.
Sarah loved Billy Ray Cirrus, of course this was back when he was popular, and she wanted so bad to go and see his outside concert. Her mom got tickets for Sarah, the nurse, and herself to go and see him in concert. They all got inside one of those wheelchair lift vans, and took off to the concert.
That was the best night Sarah had in a very long time. Billy Ray had seen her in her wheelchair, and he could see that she was very hot, and he wet a towel with cold bottled water and looked at the nurse as if to say “here catch” he threw the towel which the nurse caught, and it was used to wipe off Sarah’s sweaty head and neck. She was able to stay for the whole concert.
Sarah was not limited as long as her health permitted, because she could be put in her wheelchair and be rolled out to that wheelchair lift van, and go out and enjoy at least a few moments in life. It was seldom, but if it were not for that wheelchair lift van, she would not have had any way to enjoy life outside her home.