Categories
Uncategorized Wheelchair News

New Wheelchair Update

After the amazing generosity from all of my supporters and the Conqueror community I visited Bromakin Wheelchairs yesterday to get some essential repairs to my current chair and look at new chairs.

We were there 2.5 hours and spent the time with Rob educating me.

We spent 2 hours with Rob at Bromakin wheelchairs. After assessing my situation we decided the best thing was for the engineers to work on my existing chair to get it able to carry me through the next few months. We now have a thorough but temporary fix to my current wheelchair.  I paid for this with savings, leaving the donations intact. 

This delay means I can save up for the extra cost and lose

 the remaining weight. The plan is to have a purpose built chair which means it can be lighter and stronger than an adjustable one. The total cost will be in the region of £4500+. In the time whilst I lose the weight I’ll also be gaining skills to be able to use a specialist chair effectively.

The delay is important because an adjustable chair is heavier and weaker due to the moving parts. Incredibly, the ‘test chair’ I used yesterday was only 15” wide, which is probably my correct width once I lose more weight.

For context my current chair is an 18″ and my power chair a 20″ i was genuinely speechless when Rob told me it was only 15″ wide. When 15 is comfortable I will be ready to order the new chair. 

The new chair is going to be  life changing, having test driven a similar one today my mind was blown with the possibilities of what I might be  able to achieve.


The chair needs to last and I need the support of a snug fitting chair (we are adding foam to the current chair to correct my position and prevent me sliding around)

I will be setting up a bank account to keep the money raised separate from my personal account. If you donated and are not happy with this plan please do get in touch.


What do I need to be ready to order
1 – to fit snuggly but comfortably in a 15” chair
2 – Improved core strength – core strength dictate angles of seat so the more my core strength is where it will eventually be the more suitable the final chair can be without building in adjustability

I realise everyone was hoping to see me in the new chair and able to move this adventure forwards quickly and that is why you were so generous. I hope you understand this is the most effective use of your money and gets me the best and longest lasting solution.

Some plans will be on hold but the work Robs team did today mean Wednesday can go ahead and so can Hadrian’s wall. I will have to do The Great North Run in my current chair too but that will just mean I will be faster in it in 2022 race when I have the new chair. 

In the meantime

  • I will be :
    hitting the gym regularly to build a core fit for the new chair
  • Working on my seating position on runs
  • Learning to balance in this chair – really important once I have a properly balanced chair to avoid tipping it over and landing on my head
  • Building up my general strength and running ability
  • We’ll be using the freewheel more too, to take some pressure off the front forks. 

When we do order the new chair we’ll also be needing a suitable cushion and push rims.  All of that will be decided nearer the day.  I also have some pretty bad hand issues and so it makes sense to wait to see whether they can be operated on or the new chair needs to accommodate it and it’s too soon to know that too. 

Please continue to follow this adventure to find out whether my bum will shrink and my abs will grow.
Thank you again for all your support

Categories
Challenges Uncategorized

Wheelchair User’s 12 Hour Charity Challenge Supports Local Business in Carlisle

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release Wednesday 26 May 2021

Wheelchair User’s 12 Hour Charity Challenge Supports Local Business in Carlisle

On Wednesday 26th May Carol Hall will complete a 12 mile / 12 hour/ 12 Business Charity run for Young Minds and Diabetes UK. She hopes to raise money for these two important charities whilst also showcasing Carlisle and some of the small businesses who make it such a great place to live and visit. 

Starting at 9am Carol will set off from a business or organisation, wheel for one mile until she reaches her next stop.  At each stop she’ll talk to the manager and learn more about what is on offer and how they make their services available to disabled people before moving along to the next location.

This is just the latest charity challenge for Carol. She started these challenges back in September as a way to get fit and lose weight whilst helping the wider community.  Her first challenge was 30 miles in one month for refugees, her most recent was one was 32 miles in one go! She’s come a long way in all senses having also lost a whopping 50kg since August. Carol blogs her progress and adventures under the Name WheelieMum on facebook, youtube and her website.

The charities are very personally important to Carol, through her work as a volunteer mentor she’s seen first hand the effect of the pandemic on young people and wants to ensure they have the resources to cope and become more Resilient.  Whilst she is not diabetic, diabetes was a very real possibility given her need to lose weight and lifestyle.  

 

Carol, now age 50, realised 17 years as an electric wheelchair user was taking a terrible toll on her health and so in August, age 49, she started to address this. By the time she turned 50 in October she was already wheeling 10km.

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Regarding why chose this challenge Carol said “This was to be my come back run following a shoulder injury and it’s my way of supporting both my community locally and people in the wider community in need of the charities services”.

 

Regarding choosing to use her videos to support local business Carol said “The owner and workers are my neighbours, Carlisle is my city.  The pandemic has hurt many small businesses and so I want to help my neighbours show off their services and come out of this pandemic far stronger than they went into it. 

Wayne Donough of Well Done Solutions (disability equipment store) said “I have know Carol since she approached me with an unusual request to attempt to get into the mountains with a powerchair, As a disabled person and parent of a disabled child myself  Well Done Solutions are delighted to support Carol and her Charities and look forward to showing off our products and services”

In the run up to this event Carol’s training was interrupted due to a caster on the wheelchair breaking but in true Cumbrian style this will not deter her.  The chair is to be fixed this Friday just in time to enable her to complete the challenge.  Carol said “Nothing is going to stop me completing this run.  I am grateful to everyone who is helping me get the chair back functional.  The charities and Carlisle are too important to cancel at this stage”

This event runs from 9am to 9pm on Wednesday 26 May. Visit Carol’s website for links to the donation pages and to see the schedule for the day: where Carol will be and when.

Additional Information

Website: www.WheelieMum.org.uk

Diabetes Uk Fundraiser: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/wheeliemum

Young Minds Fundraiser: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/wheeliemumyoungminds

Contact: Carol Hall 07419775133 Carol@WheelieMum.org.uk

Categories
Challenges Disability

The Kindness of Strangers

Feeling utterly despondent after yet another fairly major failure of the wheelchair I posted in ‘The Conquerer Community’ on facebook. This is a group of people who undertake virtual challenges with the company ‘My Virtual Misson.

I wrote how devastated I felt at the broken front fork and how I felt like giving up. With a little over a week to go to my next big charity challenge, I was feeling utterly lost.

The overwhelming response was “keep going”, and to remind me how far I had come. The other response was not just to suggest I started a go fund me but also multiple offers to start one. I akwardly accepted one of these offers.

We are now a couple of hours on from that go fund me starting and I want to share with you the incredible kindness of these strangers. None of them know me, other than by the videos I share.

That fundraiser is already at £1675! I honestly cannot beleive people are so happy to help me.

For me this means the world. My chair is simply not up to the hammer I give it. It wouldn’t have been when new, never mind given it is an ill fitting second hand chair. What none of these people know, and no one did until you read it now but with the chair now being too wide for me I dangerously slide around in it on side cambers and it has given me some rather worrying sores which I already have a doctors appointment to discuss and so to be able to get a suitable chair is going to mean everything. I will be able to continue on this incredible fitness journey and do so much more safely than before.

Here is a link to that fundraiser but if you cannot donate or would rather donate to one of my chosen charities I am still very grateful for your support.

I am overwhelmed by all the support I receive whether in this practical way or just by reading my site and watching my videos.

Lots of love, and very sincere thanks

Carol

Categories
Disability Uncategorized

How Can I Improve This?

Here is my current wheelchair set up. I am wanting to improve this. Primarily I’d like to bring the centre of gravity forward when I am carrying more than the essentials. Do you have any suggestions on how I can improve? I will talk you through what I currently have and see what you think

 

On the front I have two cycle bags, two camera mounts and a waterbottle holder. I find them hard to open and close and hard to find the items in them without dropping everything on the ground. They store

 

  • Phone
  • Power Bank
  • Charger wires
  • Hand tape and knife
  • Spare gloves
  • Mask
  • A couple of snacks
  • Bank card, bus pass, WheelieMum Card, Cash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will probably need another powerbank and if possible (though I don’t think it’s possible) I could do to have a map on the front because my phone is hard to see.

Under the seat is where I would like to add more storage.  At the moment I have a first aid kit and some basic tools and puncture repair kit.  I am very open to suggestions on how to add underseat storage

The back of the chair has a shoulder bag where I have spare camera batteries, more snacks, my waterproof and anything I think I will need fairly to hand during a run

Under the WeelieMum bag is a cycle panier containing spare clothes and has space for any luggage and it’s where any shopping goes.   

Do you have an ideas on how I can improve the under seat storage? it would be great if my additional clothing could go under there along with the first aid items to bring the centre of gravity forward and free up the big back back for shopping or items for overnight trips.