A day of pushing limits for wheelchair users

By Esmeralda Bermudez, Los Angeles Times
June 26, 2011

The once-avid motorcycle rider is not one to shy from adventure. But to dive 4 feet down a steep concrete embankment — in a wheelchair, while paralyzed from the waist down?

"Yeah," Molo said, gripping his wheels a few feet from the edge. "I'm gonna have to take a moment to think this one over."

A skateboarding park on Venice Beach transformed into a training ground Saturday morning as several dozen paraplegics and quadriplegics learned to drop, roll and dive on curved walls as tall as school buses. They did so all while sitting in their own wheelchairs.

The event was held by Life Rolls On, a group born out of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to help people with spinal cord injuries stay active. They teach surfing and this year, for the second time, skateboarding.

Participants, some as young as 6, showed up strapped to wheelchairs with legs that don't work or barely do. They're survivors of car crashes, shootings and surgeries gone wrong. Some were born with spinal defects.

Molo, 36, was struck by an SUV as he rode his motorcycle to work one day five years ago. The driver was on her cellphone. She made a left turn on a red light and plowed head-on into the computer repair technician.

For almost two years, Molo stayed in his house, too depressed to go out. He watched television, played computer games. Mostly, he slept. Then he found Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, which encourages wheelchair sports.

Three buddies from the center egged him on until he finally let go and took on the embankment — in one smooth, perfect swoop.

"Oh, yeah," he said proudly.

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Amputees get back up and running

Nashville becomes arena for new amputee basketball league
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Written by
Claudia Pinto | The Tennessean Filed Under
Life
Life Features

When Daryl Farler lost both of his legs, he doubted that he’d be able to walk again. Five years later, he’s running around playing basketball.

Farler was 25 when a dog scratched his left eye and he developed a serious strep infection. The medication he needed to stay alive restricted blood flow to his extremities and he lost both legs below the knee and several fingers.

He was in shock and initially clueless about his options, and the fear of being helpless fueled his depression.

“There’s a lot of depression,” says Farler, who is now 30 and lives in Murfreesboro. “I lived for 25 years with feet.”

What Farler learned is that advances in prosthetic technology have made it easier for amputees to be as active as anyone. He runs. He hunts. And now he has joined the new United Amputee Basketball League — a stand-up, three-on-three, basketball league for people who have lost a leg. He will be playing for a team that’s sponsored by Amputee Associates, a Nashville company that made his artificial limbs.

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Amputees find power in paddling

Written by
Kathryn Bursch
St. Petersburg, Florida - For Roy Howe, blue skies and blue water are a perfect way to avoid the blues.

"It's peaceful, it's relaxing, it's enjoyable," he says while paddling across the waters of Boca Ciega Bay.

Wednesday afternoon was actually Howe's first time in a kayak and most of the other people gliding near him are in the very same boat. They're members of an activity group called "A Step Ahead" and it aims to get people trying new things.

Besides an adventuresome spirit, group members also have another thing in common; they're all missing a limb... or two.

"There are other support groups out there, but we're more than a support group, we're an action group," says founder Jamie Kay Weil.

Weil is a former nurse who now works in the field of prosthetics. She says that in many cases amputees can actually be more active than before, because now the source of their infections and pain is gone.




Last month the group went sailing and next month it's swimming with the manatees. And while there's no peer pressure, it helps when everyone takes the plunge.

"If he can get in, I can get in," says Barbara Schickedanz, while waiting her turn to plunk down in a kayak.

Howe says a group like this can be life changing. "It gets you out of bed; it gets you out of the wheelchair."

Any amputee (even before surgery) can join the group and it has members of all ages. And most of the activities are free, because businesses help out. On Wednesday, Canoe Country Outfitters provided all the kayaks.

On this outing, so far so good; the only person to get wet was the instructor who tipped on purpose. So even with all the water around, you get the feeling that nothing can dampen this group's spirits. One woman gliding by exclaims, "I love it!"

For more information on A Step Ahead for Amputees call 727-564-8456 or click here.

Amputee schoolgirl meets 'blade runner' athlete who inspired her to compete in the next Paralympics

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:55 PM on 30th May 2011

An amputee who was encouraged by a Paralympic star to fulfil her dreams of running again finally got to meet her hero.
Danielle Bradshaw, 12, who had her damaged leg amputated last year set her sights on competing at the Rio Games in 2016 after hearing about Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius.

The schoolgirl met the 24-year-old South African athlete nicknamed the 'blade runner' and shared her experiences at a stadium in Manchester.

Danielle, from Newton in Hyde, was born with a dislocated knee and hips and chose to have her useless right leg amputated last year.



The Astley Sports College pupil had wanted to meet Oscar for three years and was granted her wish by organisers of the BT Paralympic World Cup at Sportcity in Manchester.
But she had a shock when Oscar, who has a double amputation, revealed that her story has also helped spur him on.

Oscar, who was born with a congenital foot defect that led to him having both legs amputated, said: 'Danielle's story is incredibly moving - it's been great to meet her.

'She is a real inspiration to me and can fulfil all her dreams.

'She just has to keep training and believing and she will get there.'

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