Have you read the book, “The 5 Languages of Love?” Different folks express their love to one another differently, some do it via words, others through action, and others through gifts. Well, here is one dad who loves his kid so much, that he actually modified his son’s wheelchair. Shea, father to 2-year old Alejandro, whom the latter suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy that severely limits his ability to move, decided that a power wheelchair was just what Alejandro needed to gain a degree of mobility. The thing is, his health insurance is unable to cover the power wheelchair for another five years, so in a stroke of genius, he decided to get down and dirty, building one power wheelchair by himself.
The template was an $800 adult-sized powered wheelchair from eBay, which was then modified thoroughly in terms of size and how it is controlled. According to Shea, “Alejandro’s toes, while quite weak, seem to respond faster to his motor intentions than his two working fingers, so I decided to focus my efforts there.” The wheelchair’s power system was modified to be controlled via foot pedals, and with this labor of love, Alejandro now has freedom of movement of the outside world – at least to the areas where a wheelchair can move about.
Filed in . Read more about DYI, Hacking and Wheelchair.