Hardware

When I talk to school kids, I tell them I can't control my body, but I use adaptive devices to do things. I then describe some of my devices, like wheelchair, diaphragm pacemaker system (DPS), mouthstick, etc. In 30 years of living the quad life, I've gone through a lot of hardware.

The most obvious piece is my wheelchair. I've heard some people get new chairs about every five years; I'm on my second powerchair. I can't imagine having gone through six chairs by now. My first one had a mind of its own and took off by itself a few times. I've had my current one since about

1996 and it has served me very well. Neither chair would have lasted nearly this long without maintenance from my dad.

Two weeks ago, we were getting ready for church when my chin control wouldn't swing away. Within a few minutes he found the broken wire under the front of my seat and had it repaired. We were off again and got to church with time to spare. The external hardware is rather obvious, but it's the internal parts that are just as useful.

In early high school, I had severe scoliosis (common for young kids with SCI) and had an 89° curve in my back. After getting rods in my back, I grew six inches in seven hours and went down to a 30° curve. The DPS with wires in my diaphragm allows me to breathe more naturally. Followed by my trache that I used for many years for breathing and still do to clear out my lungs.

I'm thankful that God has given us technology that allows people with injuries like mine to live, and go out and interact in the world. It's a major problem when they malfunction, but fortunately that isn't often. Living the quad life isn't easy, but through the many adaptive devices I use, it makes it possible to do more than people imagine.