“Wheelchair restores man's mobility” |
| Wheelchair restores man's mobility Posted: 27 Nov 2010 10:11 PM PST Sunday, November 28, 2010 12:00 AM |  Printer friendly version |  E-mail to a friend |  Tim drives his new chair up the driveway of his home in Rockwell. Tim Elrod was severely injured in a vehicle accident approximately one year ago. After several months and multiple hospital stays, he returned home paralyzed from the waist down, confined to a manual wheelchair. The community rallied behind a campaign to raise the funds needed for the purchase of a power wheelchair with stand-up capabilities. Elrod now has that chair. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.   Tim drives his new chair up the driveway of his home in Rockwell. Tim Elrod was severely injured in a vehicle accident approximately one year ago. After several months and multiple hospital stays, he returned home paralyzed from the waist down, confined to a manual wheelchair. The community rallied behind a campaign to raise the funds needed for the purchase of a power wheelchair with stand-up capabilities. Elrod now has that chair. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.  Tim shows off his standing abilities with his new chair. Tim Elrod was severely injured in a vehicle accident approximately one year ago. After several months and multiple hospital stays, he returned home paralyzed from the waist down, confined to a manual wheelchair. The community rallied behind a campaign to raise the funds needed for the purchase of a power wheelchair with stand-up capabilities. Elrod now has that chair. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.  Tim shows off his standing abilities with his new chair as his just can touch the ceiling in his kitchen. Tim Elrod was severely injured in a vehicle accident approximately one year ago. After several months and multiple hospital stays, he returned home paralyzed from the waist down, confined to a manual wheelchair. The community rallied behind a campaign to raise the funds needed for the purchase of a power wheelchair with stand-up capabilities. Elrod now has that chair. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.  Tim Elrod stands next to his wife Teresa and the family dachshund" Lizzy". Tim Elrod was severely injured in a vehicle accident approximately one year ago. After several months and multiple hospital stays, he returned home paralyzed from the waist down, confined to a manual wheelchair. The community rallied behind a campaign to raise the funds needed for the purchase of a power wheelchair with stand-up capabilities. Elrod now has that chair. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post. By Susan Shinn For The Salisbury Post ROCKWELL — Tim Elrod is standing tall these days. I mean, really tall. Thanks to the help of his family and friends and the community, Elrod — injured in a motorcycle accident almost a year ago — recently received a stand-up wheelchair. It's something else. Weighing in at 400 pounds, the chair can put Elrod in any position he likes: sitting, standing, leaning back, even lying flat. Elrod still uses a regular wheelchair in his job as a reliability and integrity engineer at DukeEnergy. That helps him to maintain his upper-body strength. But since he's the first one home in the afternoons — wife Teresa is an MRI technician — he always had supper waiting for her. In his other wheelchair, he couldn't negotiate the kitchen. Rather than having the kitchen renovated — lowering counters and the like, the Elrods opted to purchase a power chair with standup capabilities. Insurance does not cover it. Friends and family wanted to help. They came up with the idea of a motorcycle rally in April — the Elrods both rode Harleys before the accident. "We were very lucky the way the rally went," Elrod says. "If it hadn't been for that, I wouldn't be sitting in this chair." Rally organizers wanted to raise $20,000 for the chair. Elrod thought that was all well and good, but doubted that much money could be raised in one day. The event raised $22,000. "I saw people I hadn't seen in 30 years," Elrod says. "People said, 'Well, you would have done the same thing for me.' It's true. But when it happens to you, it's overwhelming." The Elrods especially want to thank all the event's sponsors: Victory Wealth Management, Sun-drop, Cheerwine, Pro-Class Trailers & Equipment, Frank Corriher Beef & Sausage, J.E. Fisher Insurance Agency, Diversified Graphics, Yost Lawn Care and Myers Septic Tank Co. Soon after the successful rally, he met with Walt Anderson of LEVO USA, which manufactures the chair and Mike Fisher of Alliance Seating and Mobility, its distributor. They took Elrod's measurements for the chair and explained to him what features he would need — and what he wouldn't need, too. Just like a vehicle, these power chairs have multiple options. Sunrise Medical donated a gel cushion for the chair, which helps guard against pressure sores. Elrod met with his doctor to make sure his body would be capable of standing. The two men brought Elrod a loaner chair to try out for a few days. In rehab, he'd had issues with his blood pressure dropping when he was raised into a standing position. He wasn't sure what was going to happen now. "I was actually terrified," Elrod admits. "They said, let's go slow and take your time. I stood up for about 5 minutes. I thought, 'Yes! I'm gonna be able to do it!' I was jumping up and down inside. I was tickled to death." Before the accident, Elrod stood 5 feet 11 inches. Standing in the chair, he estimates his height is about 6 feet, 6 inches — more if he needs to reach a high shelf in the kitchen or change a light bulb. He went outside with the chair. He found he could go all over the property with it. He could stand at the grill. He could work in his shop. He could relax on the patio with his wife. In short, he regained a huge measure of independence. Elrod had returned to work in July, just a few hours a day. He was still having pain in his back and some muscle spasms, but he decided he'd rather be at work than sit home and think about everything he couldn't do around the house. Elrod has been with Duke Energy for 25 years, and says he really enjoys his work. A dozen co-workers in his group split up his work while he was out. "It's hard to get down when you have so many people doing so many wonderful things for you," he says. In the waning afternoon light, Elrod takes his chair outside for a spin. He zips up the hilly driveway — a little too fast for my comfort level, to tell you the truth — and starts doing doughnuts on the concrete driveway. Then, amazingly, he stands up in the chair. "It's good to see him eye to eye," his wife says. Elrod then leans back slightly, which takes the pressure off his back. He grins and crosses his arms, looking at the chair. "I like it," he says. "I like it a lot." Freelance writer Susan Shinn lives in Salisbury. Salisburypost.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Salisburypost.com cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not Salisburypost.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Salisbury Post is proud to offer our users enhanced commenting features. 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