AdvenChair goes to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal

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Christina Nguyen on a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal in the AdvenChair. Photo courtesy of Beth Nieva.

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In its relatively brief period of existence, AdvenChair has made some seemingly impossible physical endeavors quite doable for people with disabilities – reaching Machu Picchu and venturing to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to name a couple. But now, thanks to an intrepid youth group from St. Stephens Catholic Church in Renton, Washington, it can add a life-changing spiritual sojourn to its list of accomplishments as well.            

Christina Nguyen, a 23-year-old member of the diocese, was born with Cerebral Palsy. Last summer, she wanted to take part in a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal with 29 other young adults from her diocese. Centered around an inspiring address by the pope, World Youth Day would draw about 1.5 million young adults from all over the world, an international gathering larger than the Summer Olympics and the World Cup combined. 

Since the group also had plans to take an additional week-long venture on the Camino de Fatima, a rambling unpaved path similar to the Camino de Santiago in Spain, Christina knew she wouldn’t be able to handle all the walking and standing with her usual crutches. 

“I originally thought I could 'MacGyver' an old wheelchair to help Christina get around,” said Beth Nieva, the Parish’s Young Adults Group Leader. “But after discovering the AdvenChair online, I decided it would be a much safer (and cooler-looking) alternative.”

After contacting AdvenChairman Geoff Babb and arranging to rent an AdvenChair for the trip, Beth found it to be a Godsend in more ways than she could’ve imagined. 

“Portugal is known for its cobblestone streets that are beautiful to look at, but horrible to travel on,” said Beth. “The streets we were on were like 1,000 years old and the edges of the cobblestones were so worn away, there was sometimes a 1.5” gap between the stones. So a crutch or even a traditional wheelchair getting caught in one of those gaps could’ve easily thrown her [Christina] for a header. With the AdvenChair, we were able to float right over the gaps – with and without the front wheel.”

Photo courtesy of Beth Nieva.

Five days before World Youth Day (WYD), the group arrived in the village of Fatima, where they had planned to follow the Camino to Lisbon. However, after finding that there were no places along the route that could accommodate 30 people all together, they decided to stay in Fatima and make a series of day trips in various directions. These excursions not only gave the team a good understanding of Portuguese culture and history, they helped everyone get familiar with operating the AdvenChair before dealing with the crowds of Lisbon. 

“World Youth Day in Lisbon is where the real adventure started,” said Beth. “I have never experienced crowds that intense. But the AdvenChair was great! We had to constantly get on metros into the city, where the chair barely fit within the width of the train. There were thousands of people taking up every inch of space on these trains. Then, when everyone got off, there would be a swell of humanity all shoulder-to-shoulder, moving in the same direction. You would grab on to the backpack of the person in front of you and hold on for dear life.”

To make things even more challenging, the train stations did not have working elevators or ramps for wheelchairs. Thankfully, the gripping points on the AdvenChair made it easy for a few strong team members to grab each corner and carry Christina up and down flights of stairs in order to change trains numerous times a day.

Photo courtesy of Beth Nieva.

Lisbon is known as the City of Seven Hills, but it’s not famous for its wheelchair ramps and accessibility for the disabled throughout the rest of the city either. 

“Steps and stairs were everywhere,” said Beth. “And although Christina offered to use her crutches that were stored in the back of the AdvenChair, it was much quicker for us to just lift and carry her, not to mention much safer for her to stay in the chair.” 

When it came to dealing with the crowds and other difficulties of World Youth Day, AdvenChair rose to the occasion again and again. 

“There were 150 countries and dozens of different languages represented at WYD,” said Beth. “But we quickly found out that ‘wheelchair’ is a universal word, and it became my battle cry. They started to call me Moses, because every time I yelled, ‘Wheelchair!’ I was able to part the Red Sea of people and roll right through.”

Naturally, the bright orange AdvenChair caused a few double takes, which opened up a lot of friendly conversations. 

Photo courtesy of Beth Nieva

“It was cool to see how many people from different countries would come up and offer to push the chair for us or ask if we needed help. It became the focal point for an international fellowship that was awesome to see.”

— Beth Nieva, Parish Young Adults Group Leader, St. Stephens Catholic Church

While the AdvenChair can easily be handled by one person on level and rolling terrain, it really shines when it brings people together as a team. The St. Stephens group practiced together a few times before going over to Portugal, but when they got to Lisbon, they found that Christina kept getting hit in the head by backpacks because her head was right at that level. 

“I was really impressed with how our team worked together,” said Beth. “We learned to put a  person on each side of the front wheel, two people on either side of Christina to protect her, and one person behind the wheel (usually me), who had the easiest job, because we weren’t moving too fast among the crowds.”

Photo courtesy of Beth Nieva

And if dealing with the massive mobs wasn’t hard enough, toward the end of the event, temperatures rose to more than 100 degrees and there was no water available anywhere.

“We had to collect enough water for 30 people before we left the inn each day,” said Beth. ”It just happens that there’s an adjustable footrest near the front of the chair. We found we could load it up with our water and we could carry even more in the back. Because of the intense heat, we ended up using Ubers to get around, rather than suffer on the trains. With the removable wheel, my team was able to break down the chair and put it in the back so fast, we would be on our way in no time.”

All in all, the group couldn’t be more grateful for being able to rent an AdvenChair for their pilgrimage. 

“I can’t thank the people at AdvenChair and the entire group at St. Stephens enough for giving me the opportunity to attend World Youth Day,” said Christina. “Hearing the pope speak and meeting many young people from around the world was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Yet it was just as uplifting to watch my teammates make it all possible for me.”

“After searching all over for an all-terrain wheelchair, finding the AdvenChair was truly a blessing,” said Beth. “I don’t know if I’ll ever organize and lead a trip with a disabled person like that again. But if I do, I won’t go without the AdvenChair.” 

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“DREAM BOLDLY” – Coming soon to a theater or film festival near you.

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The film was a Winner of Merit at The Impact Docs Awards this year and is currently being considered for awards in eight other film competitions, including Cannes, France.

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They say no person is an island. That’s especially true when that person needs something that doesn’t exist yet to make his or her life better, and then invents something that not only fulfills the need, but benefits those immediately around him, and countless other people in similar circumstances in different parts of the planet.  

Clearly that’s the case with Geoff Babb and his AdvenChair invention that had a ripple effect on dozens of people who journeyed with him to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back two years ago. And recently, the story of that journey inspired another couple so much, it moved them to create a 48-minute documentary film called DREAM BOLDLY. 

The AdvenChair takes on the Bright Angel Trail of the Grand Canyon

Marcia Volk and her husband Mike live across the street from Smith Rock State Park, and run SmithRock.com, the primary website for users of the park. Marcia became intimately familiar with Geoff and the AdvenChair team while developing the advenchair.com website. Marcia has held many jobs throughout her long career, but it took a story like the Grand AdvenChair to finally get her to fulfill her first love, which was film-making. 

Marcia wrote and directed the documentary, and shared editing duties with Mike, who also assisted with motion graphics and audio engineering. The couple also shared Executive Producer credits with Geoff and Yvonne Babb. The project took approximately a year to finish, but the work of having it seen by the public at various film festivals and streaming online is just beginning. 

“Geoff’s incredible and infectious will to dream boldly made me want to do the same. It was always my dream to create a documentary, and now we’ve both realized huge dreams.”

— Marcia Volk, Director of DREAM BOLDLY The Grand AdvenChair

The film was a Winner of Merit at The Impact Docs Awards this year, got officially selected for the LA Independent Women in Film Awards, and is currently being considered for awards in eight other film competitions, including Cannes, France. Residents of Central Oregon have two opportunities to see this inspiring film in the near future. It will show Thursday, May 23 at the Belfry in Sisters and on Tuesday, May 28 at the Open Space Studios in Bend. 

Both events will start at 5:30 pm, with doors open at 5:00 pm, and feature a panel discussion and Q&A with Marcia, Geoff, and other members of the Grand AdvenChair team until 7:30 pm. Tickets are free with a $10 suggested donation and reservations are highly recommended. 

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AdvenChair teams up with Wanderlust Tours for AdvenTours. And sharing a healthy grant.

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Bald Eagle nest watching at Smith Rock State Park in the AdvenChair.

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What do you get when you combine AdvenChair, the leader in all-terrain wheelchairs, with Wanderlust Tours, Central Oregon’s leader in guided all-terrain adventures? You get AdvenTours, outings that allow people with disabilities to explore Central Oregon’s most iconic places with expert guidance. 

You also get a team that worked together to secure a $45,000 grant from Visit Central Oregon’s Future Fund, a program that supports local tourism projects benefiting both visitors and residents. The team was one of 15 recipients who shared a portion of $450,000 in grant money. The funds will allow AdvenChair to order two more brand new chairs and make them available for Wanderlust clients, many of whom have been asking for an all-terrain chair so that a disabled family member or even a wobbly grandparent could come along for the outing. 

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Geoff and the AdvenChair team to facilitate accessible tours in the Bend area.”

— Courtney Braun, Owner of Wanderlust Tours

“For more than 30 years, it’s been our goal to get folks into the great outdoors and let Mother Nature do her work, inspiring and invigorating everyone who visits her trails. And now, those with mobility challenges can join us for adventures in these beautiful areas, and come away with great stories to tell, continued Courtney.”

Wanderlust will offer its first AdvenTour on the morning of Saturday, July 13 at Smith Rock State Park. Adventurers will have plenty of time to take in views from the rim of the canyon, as well as explore trails along the Crooked River, where you can get close-up glimpses at climbers challenging the limestone walls. 

On Saturday, August 3, the AdvenTour will combine a dive into Central Oregon’s unique volcanic geology with a healthy dose of astronomy. Lava Lands Visitor Center offers the perfect venue for both with a twilight trek among a 10-square mile lava field, followed by a summer evening of stargazing far away from city lights. 

On the morning of Sunday, September 8, it’s time to take in the breathtaking spectacle of Benham Falls. The AdvenChair makes several dramatic viewpoints of this powerful cataract easily accessible, as well as some of the Upper Deschutes’ most serene settings. 

Finally, on Sunday, October 20, the AdvenTour will venture to Shevlin Park for a morning jaunt along Tumalo Creek. We will take a close look at this ecosystem filled with spectacular flora and fauna and revel in some of Central Oregon’s most dramatic fall colors. 

AdvenChair and Wanderlust Tours also welcome you to customize your own accessible tour as weather and schedules allow. How about climbing to take in the stunning panoramic views from the top of Tumalo Mountain? Maybe you’ve never been to the Badlands Wilderness, one of the area’s newer trail systems that is rife with aged, stoic juniper trees, colorful rock outcrops and plenty of solitude. Or perhaps you’d like a taste of the incredible Newberry Caldera where Paulina Creek meanders through stunningly pristine scenery. If the mobility challenges don’t impact the ability to paddle, Wanderlust can even set you up with a guided canoe or kayak tour that may or may not involve an AdvenChair. In short, whatever tour you can dream up, we can probably make it work for you.  

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AdvenChair team readies for the Grand AdvenChair 2 with successful first ascent of Gray Butte.

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The AdvenChair team on the first wheelchair ascent of Gray Butte

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There may be no way to truly replicate the arduous 4,000-foot elevation change in tackling the Grand Canyon’s Bright Angel Trail to the Colorado River and back. But some of the training missions the AdvenChair team has taken on over the past few weeks come pretty close. 

After managing the first successful wheelchair ascents of Horse Butte and Burma Road at Smith Rock State Park in Oregon (read here), Geoff Babb and his merry band of “mules” concluded their training for this spring’s venture to the bottom of the Grand Canyon by becoming the first wheelchair team to summit Gray Butte, just east of Smith Rock. 

From April 25-28, a team of a dozen hearty men and women will accompany Geoff on the “Grand AdvenChair 2,” his second attempt to reach the Colorado River via the Bright Angel Trail. Another 15 folks from as far away as Wisconsin and Florida will be providing support on the Canyon Rim. This time Geoff will be riding in his amazing AdvenChair 3.0, an all-terrain wheelchair that is nimble and durable enough to handle the 3,000+ water bars that turn the demanding trail into a 10-mile obstacle course. 

Climbing Gray Butte on April 9 was the perfect warmup for the Grand Canyon and further proof that AdvenChair is the ultimate vehicle for exploring wild places. From the Skull Hollow trailhead, the elevation gain over the four-mile route to the summit of Gray Butte is 3,108 ft. By comparison, the last push up the Bright Angel Trail climbs 3,080 ft in five miles.

“After our climb of Gray Butte, the AdvenChair team is confident that we are ready for the Bright Angel Trail,” said Geoff. “The mules are doing a great job of communicating, problem-solving, and making the most of the equipment.”

AdvenChair would like to thank everyone, including our sponsors, who have helped us get this far. We hope everyone will follow us on Instagram and Facebook for updates on this historic and epic trek. Onward!

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Getting Outdoors When You’re Disabled

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Image courtesy of Outdoor Online

People are disabled in countless different ways, so there are few practical tips that will apply to everyone. Yet a few key things can improve your experience.

Article by Blair Braverman

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In 2015, I developed multiple tickborne illnesses after a day hike on Minnesota’s north shore. I remember pulling a tick from my sleeve, marveling that it was, quite literally, the size of a poppy seed. Two weeks later, I had a fever of 104. My body has never quite been the same since; more than that, my mind, my understanding of life, has changed. How can anything in the world be predictable when your own body isn’t? In the months and years it took to return to anything resembling my previous health, any period of time without symptoms felt like a winning streak at a casino—destined, with each good day, to come to a more crashing end.

It may not be easy to get outdoors when you’re working with new—or long-term—limitations, but it can still be meaningful. When Mike Passo, Executive Director of American Trails, was 20, he broke his back while mountain biking. “The thing that occurred to me in the hospital,” he told me, “was that I wasn’t bummed because I couldn’t walk anymore, or that I needed to go to the bathroom differently. I was bummed because I couldn’t mountain bike anymore.” The epiphany he had—that people define themselves by recreation; that it is, in fact, an act of self-creation—has shaped the course of his career as a trails advocate. “I think maybe people don’t realize how important that recreation is.”

When I was sickest, I sat outside. That alone was hard. The sky was too bright; the air too cold, or else too hot. And though at other times in my life I’d had grand outdoor adventures–a thru-hike, arctic expeditions–it was some of those simple moments, teeth chattering on the porch in 65 degrees, that felt both hardest and most important. It’s one of the reasons I care so much now about breaking down conceptions of outdoor achievement, that false, hierarchical value system that says climbing mountains is more important, more admirable than enjoying the warm sunlight, or watching a caterpillar in the grass. Because even when I felt my worst, I could still get a little bit outside myself by, well, getting outside. My thoughts and worries were human, and nature was where I could go to escape them.

People are disabled in countless different ways, so there are few practical tips that will apply to everyone. But some things can help: breaking down preconceptions, being gentle with yourself, and keeping your expectations fluid. It’s about finding the place of overlap between what your body and your spirit both need.

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Try Just Being

If hiking or moving through nature isn’t in the cards for you right now, try going outside and just being. Bring things that will keep you comfortable—snacks, water, blankets—and go to a place where you’ll be undisturbed, or ask a friend to drop you off and pick you up again a bit later. While you’re there, you can journal, make art, watch birds, meditate, read, play on your phone—whatever you’re drawn to do. There’s a lot of research to show that just being in nature has psychological benefits, but in this case, you’re doing your own research: figuring out what feels right for you.

Get Information

The fact that every disabled person’s needs are different means there’s no universal standard for what makes a trail or outdoor space “accessible.” Instead, activists for accessible outdoors often focus on information. “Instead of saying a trail is accessible,” Passo explains, “you say, well, this trail has 30 percent grades for 60 feet, and it gets narrow, down to 28 inches wide for 20 feet… So you can decide for yourself if you can navigate that steep grade or that narrow section.”

Last year, he and other activists testified before congress about adding in-depth trail descriptions to recreation.gov, a federal website that lists access points on public land. A project is underway to update the site with more information. Until then, there are other ways to look up info about where you’re going—although they’re still too limited. Naturefortheblind.com offers a directory of international braille trails, including context about trail distance, surface, guide ropes, and whether they’re wheelchair accessible. And regional resources, like Wisconsin’s Open Outdoors, might help you to learn more about possibilities in your area.

Explore a Water Trail

Passo loves water trails: routes through nature (often gentle rivers) that you can canoe or kayak instead of traveling on land, if that works better for you. You can search for local options through the National Water Trails System.

Be Open to Changing Plans

Try to build in a few options for what you’ll do on a given day outside. For instance, you might choose a trail that has shortcuts back, or different loops, so you can decide at multiple points whether you want to keep going or not. Or you might choose an activity, like fishing, stargazing, or foraging in a small area, that gives you flexibility to leave—or stay—at any time. If you have the idea that “success” means going a certain distance or reaching a certain point, try to reframe that mindset; a successful outing isn’t one that looks a certain way on paper, but one that leaves you happier for having done it.

Find a Community

You may find that the outdoors community you resonate with most is largely able-bodied—maybe a group of local mycologists, for instance, if you love identifying mushrooms. But the internet can help you connect with a disabled outdoors community, too—people who cheer each other on, share resources, and organize for change. Check out Syren Nagakyrie’s Disabled Hikers on Instagram; their first book, The Disabled Hiker’s Guide to Western Washington and Oregon, will be available in summer 2022 (and is available for pre-order now). Other inclusive outdoors groups, like Jenny Bruso’s Unlikely Hikers, can offer inspiration, encouragement, and support.

Figure Out What the Outdoors Means to You

If you’ll allow me a tangent: when people take hunter safety classes, at some point—in between learning about game laws, field dressing, and wildlife identification—they learn the five stages of hunter development. These start with the Shooting Stage, when fledgling hunters just want to shoot things, and progress to the Trophy Stage—which seems like it might be the peak. But no, there’s a twist: after that, the hunting itself becomes less important. Stage four is about technique. And the highest level, stage five—the “Sportsman’s Stage”—is about simply being there for the experience. Whatever your feelings on hunting (perhaps your level is vegetarian), the wisdom in this hierarchy runs deep. The highest level of “achievement” isn’t the one with the greatest deliverables. The real triumph is about having the perspective to be present, to let go of expectations and encounter something as it really is.

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AdvenChair knocks Machu Picchu off the bucket list.

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Team Kapen at Machu Picchu with the AdvenChair

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So much for starting slowly and gradually picking up speed. Less than three months off the assembly line, one of the first ten AdvenChairs ever made has already explored one of the eight wonders of the world.

“We wanted to make an all-terrain chair that would enable people with disabilities and physical challenges to roll boldly into wild places and achieve important milestones with the help of family and friends,” said Geoff Babb, AdvenChairman and Founder of AdvenChair. “Team Kapen wasted no time in doing just that.”

“Team Kapen” is spearheaded by 33-year-old Robert Kapen, who survived a brain stem stroke at the early age of 23, and his wife Nelly, who was born and raised in Peru. Their venture to the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in August was a dream come true for both of them. Nelly finally got to see her country’s most famous landmark. And Robert finally found a vehicle that could quench his burning desire to explore off the beaten path with minimal limitations.

After struggling to engage with the wilderness in his regular wheelchair, the couple from southern California discovered AdvenChair with its durable and nimble mountain-bike inspired design. With their proposed family trip to Machu Picchu just a few weeks away, they took a side trip to Bend on a visit to the Northwest and did an extensive test drive of the AdvenChair and got well acquainted with Geoff and Yvonne Babb.

Robert Kapen going along the treacherous steep path up Machu Picchu in the AdvenChair.

As a fellow brain stem stroke survivor and outdoor lover, Robert Kapen found a kindred spirit in Geoff Babb, and was immediately drawn to AdvenChair’s mountain bike components and safety features, like brakes, wheels and tires, and handlebars.

“When my other chair needed to be lifted over obstacles, people would jump in and start accidentally ripping off parts,” said Robert. “They’d say, ‘Oops, hope you don’t need that.’ But on our first excursions with AdvenChair, if we needed help, they immediately knew where to grab. I felt much safer in this chair with all the belts, shocks and handlebars.”

With the help of Team Kapen’s fundraising efforts, purchasing an AdvenChair and taking it almost directly to Peru was a no-brainer.
“Having just this one chair was so convenient in terms of space, durability, and safety,” said Nelly. “The AdvenChair held up to everything we threw at it, from taking it apart and putting it together, transferring in and out of vehicles. But most importantly, climbing the trail at extreme altitude couldn’t have been easier. "

The ancient Incans obviously didn’t design the trails to the remote Andes city with AdvenChair in mind. Nor did the modern trains and taxis in Cuzco for that matter. But with a little ingenuity and perseverance, Nelly and her family were able to maneuver Robert through airports, on to shuttle buses and trains in its wheelchair mode. Then after making the easy switch to all-terrain mode on the big day, the team was able to use the slightly wider and safer return path to reach Machu Picchu.

“We couldn’t have done this trip without AdvenChair,” said Robert. “I feel so blessed, grateful, and loved that the people I call my community stepped up and faithfully gave money. The only way I know to truly thank them and God for the awesome providence they bestowed on me is to use the chair continually and spread God’s message of love, peace, and grace everywhere I travel.”
You can’t ask for a better testimonial than that. To see Team Kapen’s photo-packed account of their Machu Picchu expedition check out their Instagram reels below and then visit the blogpost on our website.

Snow Trial on the Canal Trail

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The AdvenChair team tests the two-foot snow dump on the Canal Trail with their all-terrain wheelchair.

BY GEOFF BABB

The scouting report called for plowed, packed snow on the service road that serves as the Canal Trail along the Deschutes River. The fresh snow from the night before should give good traction, a good “joggable” surface, similar conditions to a trip a few years ago. The forecast was for 28 degrees with partly cloudy skies; good conditions considering that we had just survived “Snowmageddon” where a record 2-3 feet of snow had fallen the week before (we ended up with a bright, sunny 35-degree day).

 With Brian pulling and John driving we set out from the parking lot and immediately encountered a 2 ft high berm of packed snow at the curb cut and 300 ft of un-shoveled sidewalk before getting to the trail itself. The sidewalk was rough, uneven, and covered with 8 to 12-inch chunks of hard snow. After a lot of pulling and pushing, we made it to the trail itself.

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Checking out the front wheel of the off-road AdvenChair wheelchair

We soon realized a problem with the scouting report – it only mentioned the plowed, packed road and we were still a quarter-mile from it. The trail had a well packed 18-inch-wide path with 8 inches of soft powder on either side. The packed snow was plenty solid but not wide enough for the wheels of the AdvenChair. The front wheel would slide off the path, causing the chair to tilt to the left, then right. The road was too far away, and it didn’t take long for us to agree that this wasn’t very much fun.  So we turned around and headed back to the parking lot.

In our AAR – after AdvenChair review – in the parking lot we agreed that the trail was too rough today.  Had we made it to the road, we would have had smooth rolling.  We did learn that the fiberglass towing polls are too rigid to maneuver around obstacles like frozen chunks of snow, but that pulling with nylon straps is easier. The front wheel didn’t track well, but the ground clearance of the foot plate was excellent, easily clearing the chunks.  A walk through the neighborhood on partially bare roads sounded like a much better option.  It was a rough slog on the trail and we learned a lot. We finished the day with a nice walk through a new neighborhood.  

AdvenChairing is a Team Sport

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The team heads out to test the AdvenChair off-road wheelchair at Smith Rock State Park, Oregon

BY GEOFF BABB
PHOTOS BY MICHELLE SIMMONS, The SUITCASE STUDIO

My wife, Yvonne often refers to the AdvenChair as the “community chair” because so many people are involved with it, whether designing it, telling the story, or on the trail, where it takes a team to push, pull, and/or maneuver the chair. This was the case last week on a hike at Smith Rock State Park.

Our timing was perfect as we set a date a week in advance for a photoshoot of the newly powder coated AdvenChair to have high quality pictures to use on the website. With temps in the 50’s and blue skies, matched with stunning rock formations, conditions couldn’t have been much better.

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Checking out the front wheel of the AdvenChair all-terrain wheelchair

Photographer Michelle Simmons had a list of shots in mind – moving on the trail, people talking, close ups of the chair, and various group shots, and designer Jack Arnold wanted to watch how the chair performed, particularly the front wheel.

In the parking lot several people helped me transfer out of the van and into the AdvenChair while others readied the straps, poles, and shoulder harness needed for pulling.

Soon we were headed down the steep trail into the Crooked River Canyon. Amy Kazmier used the disc brakes to easily control my speed, but just in case, Dave Green and Kirk Metzger followed with nylon straps attached to the chair should she need help.

Amy Kazmier is on the disc brakes to safely descend into the park, with Dave Green and Kirk Metzger as backup on nylon straps and Brian Tandy on lead.

With her two-year-old daughter Addison on her back Danielle Cochran pushed me across the footbridge at the Crooked River. This was Danielle’s first outing with us, but she was already a valued team member after she and her husband Joe had donated coffee through their business Smith Rock Coffee Roasters to the Indiegogo fundraising campaign.

As Brian Tandy pulled me with two fiberglass poles attached to a shoulder/waist harness, the team easily moved me through rocky spots and across smooth boardwalks before really testing the system. Michelle asked for a photo near the water, so the team guided me about 50 feet down a log and earth staircase to a small beach. With a combination of teamwork, strength, and finesse I was quickly back up the stairs and onto the trail.

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Moving through rocky spaces.

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Heading across the boardwalk to the beach.

Heading down the stairs to the beach.

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Hanging out on the beach.

Headed up the hill out of the canyon

At Smith Rock descending into the canyon from the parking lot is optional. From the bottom though, the climb out is mandatory; but three pullers and a pusher (with some rest breaks thrown in) quickly pulled me the 200 yards to the top.

Around a picnic table we debriefed with an AAR – an “After Action Review” in military and firefighting parlance, but in this case, I’ll coin the term “After AdvenChair Review” – to discuss the day.

Everyone was impressed with how easily the AdvenChair all-terrain wheelchair rolls and how well the weight is balanced. Jack shared his ideas on upgrades to strengthen the front wheel and to improve the footrest and steering tubes. Through the test, AAR, refine cycle we’ll continue to improve the AdvenChair.

With teamwork Michelle was able to get some good shots for the website, Jack got important feedback on the design, new people were able to experience the AdvenChair, and we all enjoyed a stellar January day.

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At the “After AdvenChair Review”

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And a fine day was had by all!

It's Hard to Have a Bad Day in an Incredible Place

As we drove home from the Grand Canyon, through the Great Basin desert, I had plenty of time to reflect on the past year, particularly the last four months, and how my crazy idea of the Grand Advenchair had affected not only me and my family, but a much greater circle of people as well. This trip started out as a way to challenge myself and team both physically and mentally in a beautiful, yet demanding place, but clearly was much more. It wasn’t just about me. We all challenged and stretched ourselves.

A group of family and friends rose to the task, training on local trails and upgrading and modifying my wheelchair. The preparations were honestly as rewarding as the trip itself with lots of brain-storming, evaluation, testing, modifications, and re-testing. The time on the trail required team work, cooperation, and communication. We are literally writing the manual on how to build and operate a wheelchair on rugged trails. We’ve not only beefed up the wheelchair and made it more ergonomically efficient to pull, push, and maneuver, but also created a system for working as a team to reach difficult places. We’ve created something akin to mountain biking and mountaineering. Had we not actually gone to the Grand Canyon the six training days and time spent modifying the AdvenChair itself made for a hugely successful summer. Breaking down on the trail exposed a critical weak spot in the chair but at the same time confirmed the strength, resilience, and determination of the team.

Ahead of the trip Chris Biggs from Central Oregon Daily interviewed me on our last training hike. She did an excellent job of telling my story and motivation for this trip. Thank you Chris!
http://zolomedia.com/bend-mans-mission-give-physically-challenged-people-access-nature/
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​In prior blogs I wrote about the team and greater community that have grown from this idea. The “team” consists of not just those of us who ventured into the Grand Canyon, but also some key individuals who worked on the chair or helped us prepare for the trip. The immediate “community” is those people, businesses, and organizations that supported and encouraged us with donations of money or goods, or shared help and advice. The greater community is perhaps the one we really hadn’t expected. They are the ones that we met in the campground or along the trail. Or the people that told us how inspiring it was to see a wheelchair on the trail. Or the people that carried our packs and the broken wheelchair up the hill. Or the campground neighbors with a disabled son who called us “heroes”. It made us all feel good to know that we had touched others.

No doubt it was really disappointing to have to admit defeat and get help back up the hill. But it really wasn’t defeat because we DID make it 2 miles into the canyon, our contingency plan DID work, the team responded to the challenge incredibly well, no one got hurt, we all learned a lot and had a great time. It’s hard to have a bad day in an incredible place with great people. We all left with very positive memories and a desire to complete the trip.

Dale and Susie Neubauer of Blue Moon Designs couldn’t make the trip but were (are) vital parts of the Onward Project. Dale is a helicopter mechanic with meticulous attention to safety and detail. Building the bomb-proof AdvenChair seemingly has become his mission. Susie has supported us all along, but without her help packing and organizing we wouldn’t have got on the road in time.

Dave Taylor from NuMotion and Gary Crosswhite with Sagebrush Cycles provided important wheelchair and bike parts, tinkering, and advice. Dave Zimmerman designed workouts to prepare me for the canyon, and with Brian Tandy, were regular members of the Pilot Butte training group.

Fourteen of us traveled to Arizona. Recent foot surgery prevented Barb Scott from going into the canyon but she filled the vital role of Base Camp Manager, creating menus and shopping lists and maintaining order in camp. Amy Kazmier used her Helitack firefighting experience as our Load Master, coordinating between the team and the mule wranglers to organize and load the 26 duffels that carried our food and gear down into the canyon and back out. She was also a great traveling companion for our long road trip.

Oregon Adaptive Sports was instrumental by supporting Pat Addabbo and Matt Eitel to be part of the Grand Advenchair. Besides many great pictures, Pat has provided important insight and leadership throughout the whole process. Matt’s strength and mechanical skills were key, but his laugh was huge!

Tom Zell did all of the pre-trip grocery shopping and was a fountain of knowledge about Grand Canyon history and lore. Heicke Williams was always steady and cheerful but it was her Native American wisdom with a German accent that we’ll remember the most. Matt Eschelbach joined us late, adding strength, humor, and the peace of mind that comes with having an emergency room doctor on the team.

Adam Peterson was with me in 2010 when we looked over the rim and agreed that someday we would go down into the canyon. We really appreciated his strength, calmness, and mechanical skills. Patty Caballero packed a lot of enthusiasm and energy into a small package, giving us both physical and emotional boosts when we needed it. Dennis Fiore has been with us on many other AdvenChair trips and he always has great experience and insight to share.

I’m proud of my sons Cory and Emory, especially for their leadership when we broke down and needed to switch our thinking from going down to getting me and the chair back uphill. Cory worked confidently with the other mechanics to devise a creative repair and Emory organized the climbing team and made sure I had a tarp over-head for the impending storm. And I’m most grateful to my wife Yvonne, for without her support and energy I couldn’t even imagine things like the Grand Advenchair.

​The trail may have broken the chair but it only strengthened our team and community. Whether from the team, park rangers or hikers on the trail, or folks we met along the way, the comments were all about “next time”. Now that we know the weak point in the system we’ll keep working on the bomb-proof wheel chair and we’ll be back. Onward!

Photo credits: Pat Addabbo, Cory Babb, Emory Babb, Yvonne Babb, Patty Caballero, Matt Eschelbach, Dennis Fiore, Amy Kazmier, Barb Scott, and Heicke Williams.

It Was a Grand AdvenChair Indeed!

Amy, Yvonne, and I arrived back in Bend tonight after 3 days of driving from the Grand Canyon, exhausted but excited (most everyone else flew home Friday). I wanted to write a quick update, and then it’s off to a shower and bed.

Despite our extensive prep and training, the infamous Bright Angel trail water bars may have broken the axle on my wheelchair at around 2 miles into the canyon but it brought out the best of us. I wasn’t hurt, it wasn’t an emergency, and team worked wonderfully to do a field repair and get me back up to the rim. My time on that trail was over but 8 of our 13 team members did make it down to Bright Angel campground and spend a night before climbing back out. Between pulls on the whiskey bottle, the campfire conversation on our last night centered around building the bomb-proof expedition chair and planning our next trip to the Big Ditch.

I’ll share more stories and pictures soon, but in the meantime, thank you for all of your support!

The Grand AdvenChair—A Team Effort

One of my earliest and profound memories from the hospital following my stroke was when I was still in the ICU, dealing with a lot of pain, and not fully aware of what had happened to me and what was next. The nurse came in, tuned my bed toward the window, opened the curtains, and said “you have a lot of friends.” Gathered in the parking lot on a cold, snowy, late November Central Oregon day were close to 100 friends who had come to a barbeque fund raiser for me. With Yvonne’s help I waved and thought “Wow, there are a lot of people pulling for me. This is really a team effort and I need to do my part and work hard.” (I could only “think” this because I couldn’t talk at the time)

There will be 12 (maybe more) on the team that goes to the Grand Canyon with me but the “team” really is much bigger when the 40 or more people who have donated toward the Grand Advenchair are counted. Thank you all for the response so far! It means a lot to know that so many people are behind us! One donor said it so well “None of us gets down the road by our own steam alone. None of us. We all rely on the kindness of strangers and the generosity of friends.”

We’ve exceed our initial goal of $3,000 but will keep the campaign going through the trip to continue to raise money to support the development of the next prototypes of the Advenchair so that others can get off the road, on to the trail, and into the wild. Visit https://www.gofundme.com/2dg5g9g

The team and I are preparing by working out, and testing and improving the chair. Though we obviously can’t reproduce the “Big Ditch”, we do have some awesome trails in Central Oregon to train on. One key team member (who unfortunately can’t make the trip) is a helicopter mechanic with a high level of detail, and always asks “What can go wrong here?” We’ve picked some rougher, more technical trails to test ourselves and the chair for the “What if?” scenario. We’ve refined our terminology and procedures and practiced things like backing down a too-steep trail, climbing stairs and water bars, and picking our line through rocky stretches. We’re basically writing the manual!

Comments from a friend:
Geoff
You’re f*cking crazy. As always.
So are your friends. What a bad ass plan.
Enjoy the brutal trip. Y'all gonna laugh your asses off and swear at each other. So much fun.
Looking forward to the reports
Enjoy buddy!

Thanks again and stay tuned for more updates.

​Onward!

The Grand AdvenChair

In September I’ll be traveling by wheelchair into the Grand Canyon, an expedition we call the “Grand Advenchair”. I’m hoping that you can help us.
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When I survived a brain-stem stroke in 2005, I had to completely change how I looked at the world, approached adventures, and accessed wild places. While this has probably been the hardest challenge I have dealt with in my life, it has also been one of the most rewarding because my family and friends have made the outdoors possible for me.

Using a wheelchair has not dimmed my pursuit of challenges; it’s only made me change the ways that I experience them. This outlook on life led me to begin The Onward Project with the mission to encourage people with physical and life challenges to explore and enjoy wild places, whether in the Grand Canyon or the local park.

The Grand Advenchair team will consist of a hard-core group of family and friends who have been training for this trip. They are wildland firefighters, mountain bikers, backcountry skiers, and outdoor leaders and enthusiasts. Oregon Adaptive Sports will provide critical staff and logistical support and film and produce a video documenting the 3-day expedition.

Early-on it became obvious that a standard, skinny-tired wheelchair was not going to allow me to get to the places I wanted to go. For over 8 years I’ve worked to create and refine a wheelchair that gets me off the road, on the trail, and into the wild. The AdvenChair is now ready: mountain bike tires, a larger front wheel, handlebars and disk brakes that allow control by the “driver”, and a towing system. This is not your grandfather’s wheelchair! My ultimate goal is to design and produce AdvenChairs to allow others with mobility challenges to access their own wild places and nurture their souls.

We will descend into the canyon via the South Kaibab Trail, dropping 5,000 ft over 7 miles to the Colorado River, and after a rest day climb back out on the 10 mile Bright Angel Trail.

Your support will help cover expedition costs within Grand Canyon National Park including food, permits and camping fees, and pack mules to haul gear in and out of the canyon, production of a video and limited travel costs. Any amount we raise beyond our $3,000 goal for trip expenses will go toward developing and promoting the next prototype of the AdvenChair.

Thank you for your support.

Onward! ​

Please consider making a gift to support the Grand Advenchair at one of these levels:
_____ $500 Condor - help with production costs of a video documenting the Grand Advenchair.
_____ $250 Big Horn Sheep – help defray travel costs of team members
_____ $150 Mule – sponsor one of the pack mules we will use to haul our gear.
_____ $50 Ringtail Cat – cover the costs of camping permits and fees.
_____ $15 Canyon Wren – food for 1 person for a day.
_____ Other

Visit GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/2dg5g9g to contribute.

The AdvenChair on the Bozeman Trail, Montana.

The wild requires that we learn the terrain, nod to all the plants and animals and birds, ford the streams and cross the tides, and tell a good story when we get home. -- Gary Snyder

Moving Ahead Without Fear

The weather for the 2016 Pole Pedal Paddle relay in Bend, Ore. ranked in “the top 5 worst days” in the 40-year-history of the event and still attracted nearly 3,000 racers. Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS) fielded 4 teams of racers in the Adaptive division for the 6th straight year. The Can Do Crew, No Boundaries, True Grit, and Onward! all showed up ready to race, rain or shine. It's only fitting for this inspiring group of challenged athletes that the first team out of the date was Onward! - moving forward - and the last OAS finisher across the line was Greg Dauntless - without fear - racing for True Grit.

The alpine and Nordic skiers found the 3 inches of new snow fast and fun but the bikers had a wet and cold 22 mile ride down into town. Fortunately, it had stopped raining by the time the runners hit the trail along the Deschutes River. The river was calm, but crowded for the paddlers. The weather hardly bothered the sprinters finishing off the race at the Les Schwab Amphitheater. Minutes after the group picture the rain returned but the downpour couldn’t dampen the smiles of the more than 40 racers and support crew. The slide show below says it all.

Final results: 1) No Boundaries, 2) Onward!, 3) Can Do Crew, 4) True Grit.

The racers are grateful for the support of NuMotion, Fratzke Commercial Real Estate, Therapeutic Associates, Knife River, Bend Dental Group, Century Insurance Group, Dana Signs, and New York City Subs for helping make the Pole Pedal Paddle another legendary year.

A big thanks to the OAS staff and volunteers who make this all possible!
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Photo credits: Pat Addabbo, Yvonne Babb, Carl Backstrom, Renae Gibbons, Jessica Hamm, C J Johnson, Missy Peterson, Jill Pfankuch, and Kellie Standish.

​Calm Amidst the (Fire) Storm

A lone clarinet player sat under the Augusta Street Bridge as we completed our last stroll on the River Walk. We had been in San Antonio for the Association for Fire Ecology’s 6th International Fire Congress and the quiet jazz melody lilting over the river was a calming send off from a very busy, energetic, and enjoyable week. I had worked for the past two years with the conference steering committee to pull this off and even last minute uncertainty about U.S. Forest Service participation couldn’t prevent a successful event attended by over 600. With a huge amount of behind the scenes work, especially by our hard-working co-directors, AFE has been organizing high quality events like this that bring together fire researchers, managers, and students for 15 years.

Conferences are also important for keeping the “Fire Family” together. It’s really gratifying to see friends I’ve known since 1988, as well as colleagues from around the country and world (Spain and Mexico). Even the workshop on fire effects I organized included students from Ghana and The Netherlands.

I couldn’t attend conferences without help and am always grateful that Yvonne can travel as my caregiver. After the meetings were over on Friday we took our own field trip to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center near Austin and decompressed from a busy week. Yvonne is very much a part of the Fire Family, helping with registration, taking in presentations, and even managing to get away from the conference and fit in a day of birding with an old friend.

Downtown San Antonio is built around the River Walk, a section of the San Antonio River that was channelized in the early 1900’s for flood control, and later developed into an entertainment district. While narrower than the irrigation canals here in Central Oregon and moving slower than a “lazy river” at a water park, the Paseo del Rio reminded me of EPCOT at Disney World with all the colors, smells, and music of all the restaurants and hotels. Once we figured out where the elevators and ramps were to access the river walk with my wheelchair from the streets above, we rapidly learned why this was such a popular destination.

The memory of the peaceful musician was important to us mere hours later at the San Antonio airport after learning that we would miss our Denver to Redmond flight to get home that evening. Jazz helped us see the brighter side of spending another night in San Antonio - compliments of United Airlines.

Despite the short drive to La Quinta our cab driver was impatient with us, possibly because he wanted to get back into the queue at the airport to collect fares greater than the measly $12 that our trip provided. We shook our heads as he drove off, but felt compassion for him as we tried to imagine the struggles he faced and the battles he was fighting that we knew nothing about.

​After dropping our luggage in our room we navigated extremely busy streets and narrow sidewalks to use our United food vouchers at Applebee’s (what a step down after a week of great food), crossing over and under an incredible interchange of 12 lanes. While pop dance music blared in the restaurant I closed my eyes and smiled, thanking the clarinet player under the bridge for the image of solitude that we needed six hours later.

After a few hours of fitful sleep the taxi picked us up at 4:30 a.m. to take us back to the airport. Once we were finally headed north the flights were smooth and uneventful and clear skies, the snow-covered peaks of the Three Sisters, and Casper the Talking Dog welcomed us home.

Born Again - A Worldview Re-imagined by a Brain-Stem Stroke

“Sun’s up, uh huh, looks ok. The world survives into another day…”

Bruce Cockburn was on my mind as I watched the sunrise from my hospital bed. I was on day five of my two week meditative retreat in early October that was the result of a “bad” urinary tract infection that was “everywhere”, and I had survived into another day. I called it a “retreat” because once the doctors told me what was causing my 103.5 degree fever I knew that I would need a Zen-like approach to overcome it. No TV. No cell phone. Just being present with my body.
The first couple of days my mantra was “gather and purge” as I focused my thoughts on collecting the infection and expelling it. After a very long night of cold sweats and spasms the doctor ordered a change in treatment that finally brought some comfort. I devoured an omelet for lunch, my first solid food in four days and slept soundly through the afternoon.
The mantra for the next three days was “rest and heal”, followed by the “strengthen” phase of seven days in rehab to get me ready to go home.
The irony (or not) of this hospital visit is that it was just a month short of my “Tenth Second Birthday”, the time I celebrate surviving my brain-stem stroke on November 10, 2005. This time was different though. I smiled through my pain as I patted the CT scanner with my knuckles, celebrating a “win” over the machine simply because I held my breath for five seconds of the scan. In my first encounter a decade ago I couldn’t hold my breath for more than a few seconds, one of several things that scared me on my last long night in the hospital.
This time though, not only did I know the hospital routine, knew a lot of staff, which really made for a light, comfortable, and healing environment. Mostly we just picked up the storyline from where we left it off years ago and I don’t know how many times I heard “I’m sorry you’re here, but it sure is nice to see you”. I think I gave them as much energy as they gave me. My doctor even arranged for me to have the best room in the rehab unit.
I was reminded of how grateful I am to have survived the “neurological insult” of my brain-stem stroke that so few people do. This was made obvious when I rolled up to the table for my first meal in the rehab dining room. Of the six men sitting there (all of us in wheelchairs), only two could talk, all affected by strokes or traumatic brain injuries. I was in the non-speaking group my last time there.
My week-long stay in rehab consisted of three hours of therapy a day and brought my energy and strength almost back up to pre-infection levels. I checked out of the hospital in time to have lunch with Yvonne and attend my Leadership Bend class that afternoon. Two days later, to celebrate my “first” birthday, I enjoyed a seven mile “advenchair” with family and friends on the Deschutes River Trail – followed by lots of sleep!
So November 10th is always big for me and my family. We celebrate the day “life shoved us through an unexpected door” and put us all on a new path full of adventures and rich experiences.

“I had another dream about lions at the door, but they weren’t half as frightening as they were before….” ---- Wondering Where the Lions Are, Bruce Cockburn

The Downsides to the Upsides of a Stroke

As many of you know, Geoff caught a nasty little infection from which he is still recovering. Friday (Sept. 25th) he came down with the chills and by Saturday was struggling to make transfers even with Dennis and Yvonne's help.

Once checked into the emergency room, the doctors made a rapid diagnosis and started treatment immediately. Of course, that still meant a week of cold sweats and hospital food, but on Thursday (Oct. 1st) he transferred down to rehab. A decade later, many of his previous nurses and therapists are still at St. Charles and this adventure brought many of them back into Geoff's room (a blog with some of these stories sure to come later).

Anyway, I am told that he hopes to return home this coming Thursday (Oct. 8th) so go visit him now for the gown pics!

Just kidding... clearly he is back in real clothes.

A Wizard, A Weasel, and a Badass Wheelchair

“Sticky” Steve Morrison was up from Florida and we were eager to show him some of our Oregon beauty. Shepard Smith and Kirsten Nugent had brought Sticky to Bend from Corvallis and had wanted to see Smith Rock State Park (“to see the old homestead”) Friday before heading back to the Willamette Valley. That was the chance we had been looking for to take the AdvenChair, now outfitted with disc brakes and a towing system, down and back up the steep trail to the Crooked River.

The brakes held me perfectly as Yvonne piloted me down the hill (Sticky and Shep followed holding webbing as a redundant system should Yvonne slip). Safely at the river, we took the wide path downstream until we found a good lunch spot. Then came the real test; could we get back up the hill? Sure enough, with Shep, Yvonne, and Kirsten pulling and Sticky pushing, the team grunted me (with a couple of rest stops) to the top, aided by the 50 yards of concrete walkway poured over the steepest crux pitch. We were ecstatic about the hike and bought ice cream in Terrebonne to celebrate!

Sticky (he’s a bee keeper) had flown into Medford so we volunteered to drive him back Saturday and to take him to Crater Lake National Park. We crested the hill to the rim, pulled into the first viewing spot, and looked down upon Crater Lake. It was brisk and windy and the gray swirling clouds prevented us from seeing the shoreline hundreds of feet below, much less the east side of the lake. But there where brief breaks in the clouds, enough to let us see the sun, the lake below and Wizard Island sitting within it, giving us hope that by the time we got on the trail the clouds would open up and reveal the entire lake.

Yes, indeed, by the time we had gone about a mile on the Garfield Peak trail the sky opened up to reveal the entire lake and its famous blue water. There were many wildflowers blooming in the meadow below and the sun was brilliant, working in concert with the fast moving clouds to create intriguing shadows on the multi-colored Wizard Island and rim of the caldera. We sat in silence and took it all in.

I’ve been really pleased with how my modifications to the AdvenChair have come along but I got the biggest chuckle as we were preparing for the trail. We had parked outside the Crater Lake Lodge next to about 20 motorcycles, and as the Rip City Riders mounted their machines and the silence was broken by idling Harleys, 3 riders came over to the van, looked at the chair, and said “that’s badass!”
We just grinned as they roared off.

After leaving Sticky at the airport we broke up the 4 hour trip home with some great BBQ from a road-side stand in Union Creek and a quiet walk through the meadow on the south side of Diamond Lake. It was a long day, but seeing Mt. Thielsen shrouded in clouds and watching a weasel watch us on the trail confirmed that it had been a pretty wonderful visit with great friends.

Father's Day Means Stream Crossings and Snapchat

This year for Father's Day we took Geoff out to Camp Sherman and walked and rolled along the Metolius River. We were supposed to be testing out the new pull bars, but ended up working mostly on our small-wooden-bridge-crossing skills. Our route started at the fish hatchery and followed the river upstream toward Black Butte to the South before turning around and heading back the same way we came.


The trail was predominantly wide single-track with some minor to moderate rocks, roots, and other obstacles in the path. However, as we quickly discovered, there are three stream crossings at the beginning of the trail, making six total crossings for the day! I have been using Snapchat to share my adventures with the world and so I grabbed a stranger to film our secondcrossing of the day (above). [Snapchat allows the user to send pics or short videos up to ten seconds long, which is why the video cuts off before our dismount. I promise it was perfect though!]


Using only the two person team (one pusher, one puller), we managed to cross all six bridges without incident. Previously, we had crossed a small log bridge at Shevlin Park (LINK), but only once, in one direction, and with a third person assisting. Using the Freewheel and one of the two large mountain bike wheels, we were able to successfully cross bridges that were otherwise too narrow for a wheelchair and thus frequently limit mobility and access to the wilderness for wheelchair users.


We discovered that the pusher needs to have the upper-body strength to hold the rider's weight over the wheels on the bridge and that because of the sketchy footing of the stream bed for the puller, they are mostly a support and mount/dismount role. I do not believe we could have crossed without the second person supporting from below unless the rider were considerably smaller: a child, a smaller man, etc. Additionally, the person supporting may have to walk through a running stream and get their feet wet. The weather was perfect for Father's Day this year, but this may be a factor in colder weather or when the streams are running higher.


In the end, it was one of our best adventures yet and a wonderful day with the family! We spent quality time and put the chair and the team through their paces. The pull bars worked as expected and the chair performed excellently as well.


Happy Father's Day, Dad! Next time i'll push a little harder and we'll dump you out of the chair again ;) you know, for science!

The Unspoken Goals

My trainer Dave and I have an agreement to not talk about ADLs.

“Too clinical” I say,

“Let’s do workouts for skiing or riding instead, they’re more fun.”

ADL, or Activity of Daily Living, is an important goal for physical and occupational therapists to help folks regain everyday functions like balancing, reaching, standing, walking, showering, or going to the bathroom; to name just a few things that most people do mindlessly, many times throughout the day.

My stroke in 2005 left me with quadriparesis, or weakness in all 4 limbs. I have sensation in both feet and hands and can stand if I have something to pull on and hold. My legs are strong but hard to move when all the muscles fire at once – a phenomenon we call muscle “tone” or “toning.” To quiet the tone, I have a titanium, hockey-puck-sized, pump implanted under my skin that feeds a muscle relaxant directly into my spinal fluid. My toes are gripped most of the day, especially when I stand (Die Hard parlance – “make fists with your toes”). The muscles on the inside of the right calf want to contract, pulling the foot to an almost 90 degree angle, further complicating the act of standing. I wear a below-the-knee-to-tip-of-my-toes brace to alleviate that (and a size 12 6E shoe to accommodate the brace).

My left hand is closed, if not clenched, fingernails digging into my palm, most of the day. Lefty (my left arm/fist unit) generally rests in a guarded position on my lap. The right hand is the “good” one – the index and middle fingers and the thumb work, but the other 2 fingers prefer to stay bent. I can lift the right elbow about 6 inches without too much effort. Yvonne must help me roll over and help make any adjustments during the night, and get in and out of bed, as well as help me shower (see my 3/4/15 blog).

I don’t complain because it’s a lot better than the alternative: fewer than 10 percent of the people that have brain-stem strokes survive them, and very few of those survivors are candidates for rehab.

Each day I am thankful for the mobility and intellectual acuity that I have maintained, and each day I begin my decathlon of ADLs in the same way: sitting on the side of the bed, eating breakfast, and reading the paper. Rather than casually sipping coffee, munching on Yvonne’s homemade granola, and perusing the news all at once, each individual movement requires concentration and balance.

To reach for the bowl of granola I must stretch my right arm and get my two good fingers and thumb to hold the spoon. Then I stretch my right arm to put the spoon back. Meanwhile, Lefty sits on the corner of the newspaper waiting for Righty to slowly sort through the pages, clench the desired page, and then stretch and turn to the chosen section. This action is more challenging than eating because the paper refuses to fold without several tries. Then I can turn my attention to the coffee. The right arm stretches out; two fingers clasp the handle, and slowly move the cup to my mouth. Each sip of coffee tests my balance as my body wants to fall to the left when my right arm folds up from my side.

Sometimes I tip over, back onto the bed, prompting the call for help “The piper is down!” as Yvonne rushes back in to right me.

From the bed it’s a coordinated (or sometimes not) dance/transfer with Yvonne into my wheelchair before heading to the bathroom. Two transfers later – on and off the pot – I’m at the sink shaving, brushing my teeth, and taking my daily meds. This all requires reaching – to the faucet, tooth brush and paste, and hair brush. Again, mindless, thoughtless, effortless movements for most, but when I can’t lift my elbow above the shoulder and when reaching causes my body to stubbornly extend in the exact opposite direction, this part of my decathlon also requires focus, patience, and frequently a few Mulligans.

So each Thursday when Dave puts me through the paces of pull-ups, planks, squats, reaching while standing, and balancing on my knees (“knee chi”), we agree that it’s to help with that week’s ski or riding lesson, but we know that it’s really about the daily ADL decathlon.

Sure, the planks help my core strength and the squats help me post in the stirrups, while the simulated ski movements help me with my reach and turns on the mountain.

But we both know that it is the incrementally easier transfers and reach to the light switch each morning that really make me smile and push me through another set of simulated turns or rides.

"Grit" or "What Keeps Us Grinning"

As I sit on the side of the bed every morning waiting for my body to come to equilibrium with the world, I scan my news sources looking for information, insight, and hopefully, inspiration. This was a pretty interesting week. At this time of the year it’s impossible to escape March Madness, but a story by Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post caught my attention and pulled me away from college basketball.

Jenkins asked, “What is it about student athletes that make them successful?”

She cites Angela Lee Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania who describes “grit” as “the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals,” and how it “enables you to be in an uncomfortable place for a good part of your day and get up the next day and do it all over again,”

“Huh”, I thought, “that describes a lot of us with physical, emotional, or mental challenges.” We’re in an uncomfortable place most, or maybe even all of our days, and yet, we just get up and hit it again the next day.

I saw my friend Laurie Turner at work the other day. Laurie has Stage 4 breast cancer, but if you couldn’t tell from the hats she wears every day you wouldn’t have any idea that she’s 5 weeks into chemo therapy with surgery and radiation ahead of her. Laurie has never lost her big smile and I often hear her laugh from far down the hallway. She is still a regular at Cross-Fit, giving herself a pass on some things, but also turning out new personal bests.

Duckworth’s research is about kids being persistent and overcoming challenges to be successful in school and life, but I would describe Laurie as “gritty” too. She has the mindset of deliberate practice to work hard every day and beat her cancer. There is no doubt that Duckworth would call Laurie a “paragon of grit.” (See Duckworth’s TEDtalk)

Wednesday’s OregonLive ran an article about Bill Johnson, an Alpine skier who won a gold medal at the 1984 Salt Lake City Olympics. At 40, Johnson attempted a comeback but a high-speed crash left him with a traumatic brain injury. Ten years later he had a stroke and now, at 55 he’s in an assisted living facility with a badly deteriorating body. On his birthday he was surrounded by friends and received video messages from younger skiers that he has influenced. He has a hard time talking because he is constantly coughing and choking, but wakes up with a positive attitude, and my guess is that he is certainly “gritty” too, because, if he could, I think he’d still like one more race.

That Bill Johnson and Laurie Turner maintain positive attitudes is in part at least, a testament to the family and friends that have stuck with them. When I read stories like this I’m so grateful to be able to work and go on field trips like the one I helped organize recently near Sisters, Ore. with the help of so many good friends and colleagues, like Doug Johnson. I’m grateful always for my wife Yvonne, who just like everyone else, puts my pants on one leg at a time. That’s how the phrase goes, right?

Jenkins article got me thinking about “grit” and the many people in my life and who I have encountered in my journey who embody that notion. There is no more long-term goal than recovery and healing and so kudos to those of you all who, like me, wake up each morning uncomfortable, but grin and greet the world anyway.

Thanks y’all!