Beach wheelchair gives new lease on life

Imagine wanting nothing more than the feeling of sand between your toes and warm water lapping at your legs, but being bound to the flat, concrete carpark.

That was a reality for Mackay’s Sian Burrows, who for the past four years, has been restricted to a wheelchair.

“I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the end of 2012, and by the beginning of 2014 it had affected my legs,” she said.

“It meant then that living in the northern beaches, I was sitting on the shore not able to actually get onto the beach.

“Feeling the sea breeze, feeling water under my feet, and then putting my feet in the sand — they’re all sorts of things that you just don’t get when you’re sitting on the shore, so I’ve always kept thinking of how I could get onto the beach.”

Inspired by her desire to get down to the shore, Ms Burrows approached a local charity to pitch the idea of buying a wheelchair designed to move on the sand.

“Just through conversations with friends, I contacted the North Beaches Lions Club and took a presentation to them out of sheer hope that they would take interest in buying the beach wheelchair not necessarily for me, but then other people who obviously can’t get onto the beach,” she said.

“They took the proposal and invited me and friends to their meeting, and instead of saying ‘Here’s the money for the chair’, they presented us with the chair.”

Source
ABC News