Following complications from multiple knee surgeries to ‘fix’ the damage done during a bad training accident while I was in the military, I lost my career. I needed to use crutches and was on very strong painkillers and as a result, wasn’t very functional. Over the next few years I struggled along, but my mobility and quality of life slowly degenerated from a combination of pain, side effects from the painkillers and increasing damage to my shoulders from being on the crutches.

About two years after I lost my career, I hired a manual wheelchair after a fall, and for the first time since my injuries, I was able to get stuff done without significant pain. This allowed me to wean myself off the strong painkillers I previously needed to function when on crutches.

My current wheelchair isn‘t suitable for the far more active lifestyle I’m now engaging in, and I’m once again losing whole days to pain, and am afraid that I will have to return to using prescription painkillers to remain mobile and employed. A new wheelchair with adaptations to put less strain on my body would (hopefully) allow me to remain active.