Any PARALYZED folks here?

[rtmike]

Just as the title mentions.

I'm an incomplete L1 paraplegic. Incomplete meaning I can do things some paras can't, like walk with lofstran crutches. It's not pretty but I do make better time then some elderly people, lol.
My insides got the worst of spinal cord compression.
I chased a buddy who just sprayed me with sand over a widows peak @ Winchester Bay, Oregon. Front tire of my Banshee caught his ATV & ripped my handlebars out of my hands so I face planted the forks, handlebar area breaking my back.
Shoved an arrowhead piece of my spine onto the column compressing it 88%.
Luckily I had every single article of safety gear on. If I wasn't wearing a helmet there is NO way I would have lived.
Nobodies fault but my own. You always, always putt around the area & find all the widow peaks & razor edges so you know. We didn't. We were on the dunes for maybe half an hour.
Of course alcohol was involved.

In the hospital they were getting me set for AA meetings, yada, yada. to help me with my addiction. The lady tells me, you're gonna need help. I asked her if she's ever been paralyzed & just lost everything you worked your ass off for over 20 years (just got my 2nd brand new $2.8 million crane)?
She looked at me crossways & I said, well I have & can guarantee I'll never drink again.


-


I'm just curious who all the other disabled folks are here.

I enjoy being able to hang with the able bodied guys but I haven't came across someone like me that likes similar hobbies.


I think that would probably be about the best thing to happen since being in this chair, finding another disabled person who at least likes to RC.

[C*H*U*D]

Damn, sorry to hear about your accident.

There was a guy on here that people were working with to help him drive an RC crawler. I was going to make some parts for a radio that he needed, but someone else ended up doing it instead.

I can't remember his name or user name though. Maybe someone here remembers who I'm talking about...I thought he lived in the Moab area.

[rtmike]

Thanks, that's a start.

I'm pretty much self-sufficient.

I can still work on our 1:1 rigs & do. I absolutely HATE having to pay someone to do something I used to be able to do.

If I had even a short lift, I could do almost everything I did before.

I have a quadriplegic friend up in Seattle. His issue now is his fingers are getting all stoved up. He was into RC years ago but I think the hands/finger became an issue.

[C*H*U*D]

Some of this stuff is longer ago than I remember

Here is one I found:

crawling for individuals in wheelchairs

And the individual who I was thinking of goes by the name KNIFE but he hasn't been on here in over 4 years.

Anyone remember the thread where parts were being made for his radio?

Anyone remember his 35% thread

[caymin last]

Sounds like you have an amazing attitude despite your injury. I have some problems walking, but mine is due to Lumbar Stenosis (arthritis) and Sciatica. All my RC gear is in storage untill we move to a bigger place. I hope you have some luck hooking up with some other guys in similar situations.

[Stormin2u]

I'm a ten year member of the MNRCRC and a RCC regular. I've been in a chair for 15 years due to MS. I can't walk or stand and my hands are crippled by 35 years of disease. I build and tune (test drive) RC Rock Crawlers for my son in law and grandson who compete with the MNRCRC.

I don't compete but I tag along as most often I usually can't access to the Comp sites. So I spend my day with my very old but much loved TLT Scout scaler driving lines that are accessible to me. I actually get more wheel time than the boys do combined on any Comp day.

I love building and maintaining our three Comp trucks and old Scout. it also gives us boys some really important bonding time. We've even won some local Championships. We don't ever compete out of town as I need the help of specialized equipment every day.

I'm also very grateful for all the great friends I've made in the hobby locally and world wide thru RCC and my local club. There have been others in chairs in the past who wanted to compete but I'm not sure what happened to them maybe they will post up? It's been great for me I love the hobby and am looking forward to the 2017 MNRCRC season and winter build season.

I'm even a Team Driver for Ottsix Racing the makers of Voodoo tires and related RC products and they were well aware of my disability and inability to compete, imagine that?

Let me know if I can assist you in any way.

Storm ..

[rtmike]

Storm, right on, thanks for posting.

I WOULD LOVE to get more into the comp aspect of it. My problem is I'm super competitive....still. Although I can't do all the competitive stuff it's still burning inside.

[mikebecher]

I know Brian Parker and the RECON G6 crew have recently added a RAD class which is wheelchair accessible, when possible. He does a couple events each year in the Pacific Northwest. It's not hardcore competition but they're great events and Parker does an excellent job to make sure everyone who wants to, gets to go out and crawl and enjoy the event. Nowadays he posts most of his information on facebook https://www.facebook.com/RECONG6/.

[Natedog]

Rtmike,
Welcome to RCC, sorry to hear about your accident, but glad that you still do what you can do and strive to do more. Lots of good advice so far, my chiropractor (kinesiologist and couple other certificates too) is quite good and as he's a friend we talk about all kinds of stuff. He has had lots of success working on paralyzed people to relieve muscle pain, tension and increase their range of motion. I'm not in your area, but he might know somebody near you to recommend, who could help you in that aspect. Anyways, hope that you can find more peeps to RC with in your area.

Edit: as a former Pismo Dunes atv, quad and baja bug nut, my friends and I've had many close calls.

[Stormin2u]

Originally Posted by rtmike

Storm, right on, thanks for posting.

I WOULD LOVE to get more into the comp aspect of it. My problem is I'm super competitive....still. Although I can't do all the competitive stuff it's still burning inside.

I hear that Mike once a competitor always a competitor.

Its pretty funny most drivers follow their rig closely threw the coarse, right behind, I can drive mine as far as I can see it from my chair. I often joke I'll take on anyone as long as they sit next to me.

I'm not going to lie its going to be difficult in situations where the terrain is steep and rocky, I know because its what has kept me from competing. Indoor crawling on a man made terrain can be extremely enjoyable with a flat floor to drive from, if you have any in your area I don't but wish I did.

Its a great hobby with friendly people and the trucks are so much fun to build and drive. Even though I can't compete myself I'm still feeling it threw my team. We have had a lot of good times together running the equipment hard. You might consider something like that if you have the right people to involve, its worked well for me?

I'm also a Drift Car fanatic talk about something fun to set up and drive I love it. This is something that I can do myself without any assistance. I've also enjoyed Truck Pulling which is very specialized and loads of fun, also not needing any assistance. I've been in a boat club for 15 years with open boating 3 times a week at a unbelievable pond. Just some RC ideas that have kept me sane for quite awhile.

Check out your local clubs get a feel for the lay of the land see where they compete, for guys like us its all about accessibility as your well aware.

Like I said brother if theres anything I can do to help you let me know.

[Natedog]

Drifting is lots of fun, I've been playing with that lately. Miss my Losi Micro T, used to setup course from driveway into garage and back out the driveway. Marked it with crawler gate markers, and lots of fun. HPI Q32 is fun, but not as fast, well-handling or nimble as the Losi Micro was. Cats loved to chase it too.

One of the bonus gates at a crawl event was to sit in a chair (that was placed off angle and about 100' away, then drive your crawler down to the lake's edge, across a wooden bridge with steep drop off onto a muddy little island, turn around and drive back...much more difficult than it looked.

[rtmike]

Short of visting disabled forums, this is the most action I've got from a thread, lol. Thanks folks!

Stormin, those are a couple areas of RC that I REALLY want to try. I think the boats are what got me interested to begin with, just no way for me. I seen a guy on YouTube that was skimming across a small pond. The times he didn't make it he'd have his fishing pole nearby & would cast until it hooked the Slash. Thought that was a great idea.
Truck pulls & demolition derbies were popular back home in Hays, Ks. so the truck pulls look inviting as well.
Remember STOMPERS? We used to have truck pulls before Shaffer came out with their sled you could buy at the store. We used to shim the gears with brass cause they'd spin so fast they'd melt into the chassis, lol. I took 2 & made a 4 door pickup with dual motors from circle track cars. They run on a single AA battery normally & I'd run 4-6 nine volt batties all in succession. That's when the melting would start, loll.

When I 1st got into this, I was trying to come up with a way to make one of my Summits a recovery rig. I posted a thread asking for ideas & help over @ RC Tech & crickets chirped.
At the Traxxas forum several seemed to think a rig with a set of gin poles on back would be great. Probably the dumbest idea if you think about it,lol.
My idea was to put a giant blade on the front, like the locomotives that push snow have and paint it the brightest green or orange made, lol.
Then the X Maxx came out with self-righting, harder than hell on the drivetrain but it works they say. I have yet to try it.


So far this place has been amazing. Guess a person just has to keep searching to find the right fit.


I need to publicly THANK YOU SCREAMER for all the help you've given me through PM's on my build. He's saved me $$ & grief & couple times now.

[JeremyH]

There used to be a guy here who went by the screenname of Wheelchair......however, I am afraid that was more of a mental disability than a physical one.

[Alexander_0_1]

I take my partially disables friend RCing with me sometimes, hes a bigger guy, he crushed one of his lower vertebrae when he slipped, and fell on the ice last winter, he gets around ok with his cane, but on his bad days he'll role around his house in a wheelchair.

[THUNDER PRO]

Crawling for the differently abiled is tough when it comes to natural terrain,but some of the indoor courses may be doable. Also U4 might be your thing. I have a differently abiled son and it's tough for him to understand direction and depth but he tries. When I managed a hobby shop my best tech was paralyzed from the chest down,he was into planes and helicopters and man o man could he fly jets. Also any track or organized club that collects any fees or dues on a permanent site must make their location accessible to the differently abled by law. Maybe get together with a local club or group and start a U4 track or a dedicated crawler cause that u can access.