Coup de grace

Back in July, we starting trying out new wheelchairs for Will since his current (and first) wheelchair is now three years old. It has certainly seen better days. Pediatric wheelchairs are meant to grow with a child, and Will's wheelchair has done that valiantly since it was delivered to us in October 2008 (I mentioned Will's new wheelchair in my first blog post!). But when Will sits in his chair now, it is extended as far as it can go... and you can see that he is much too big for it.

Thankfully the new wheelchair is scheduled for delivery tomorrow! Nate and I are so excited. Will really needs this new chair, and we were looking forward to donating the old chair to be refurbished for another child.

That's right, I said Nate and I WERE looking forward to donating the old chair. Early this morning, I got a text from Will's CNA, indicating that he had the blowout of all diaper blowouts. She had to change his clothes and clean all the pads on his chair. But thats not so bad when you consider...

As Nate walked in the door this evening, he heard a huge crack and a thump as something hit the floor. Will and his CNA looked confused. And then everyone realized that Will had flexed so hard and pushed on his headrest so hard that he had cracked the plastic backboard of the wheelchair and broken the headrest right off the chair.

That was it... the coup de grace... the kill shot. The first wheelchair is dead. Before this, the damage could be repaired with the tightening of screws or the replacement of bolts or small parts. It is unlikely that we can donate it now because this is not something that is easily fixable (they would literally have to replace the entire back of the chair). We find the timing nothing short of incredible!

Will's new wheelchair is meant to flex with him when he pushes like this. It has flexable joints in the head rest, the seat, and in the foot rest. He should not be able to damage the new wheelchair like he has put a hurting on this poor old one!