Sally's World

These are incredible, and something I'm looking into for Deion, as you know I hate the thought of him missing out on anything just becasue he's confined to a chair, and one of these will mean we can do more together as a family. Of course, they look totally cool too. I was touched by this families story and how they didn't let disability stop them doing what they loved as a family, wonderful example to set for thier kids too, truly inspirational.

7 years ago life as the Sodens knew it took a turn. Liz and Brad were involved in an accident after their tire blew near Parker, Arizona and the car went flying. Liz broke her back and doctors told her she would never walk again. Prior to that day, Liz had big plans. She was a school bus driver and was working to join the sheriff's department. Now everything was different.

What didn't change, however, was the Soden's love of outdoors. Liz and Brad, together, have 5 kids and the 7 of them liked to camp. But before Liz was the "do-er," and now she could do nothing. They would sit her down near the campfire and she would watch. She felt useless and it drove her to tears. In 2002 the Sodens were stay in a cabin in the woods, to their surprise a herd of elk came walking through there camp. The kids having never seen an elk before, woke up and rushed outside. Liz got in her power chair and wanted to see the elk too. As she went outside the elk had moved on about 100 yards and you could not see them through the dense trees. As they started walking closer they had to keep stopping to help Liz get her power chair unstuck from the soft dirt surrounding the cabin. By the time Brad and Liz could get through the trees, the elk had gone. It was at that moment Brad felt compelled to act. "I wanted her to have no obstacles," he says, "we look at it as just ‘cause you're disabled doesn't mean you can't have a good time." Brad stepped into his garage to work on a solution that would enable his wife to go where no other wheel chair bound person had gone before. People scoffed, Brad was a plumber and a fireman, how could he come up with a powerful, motorized wheel chair? But somehow Liz knew her husband would do it. Two years later, he did.

To read more go to http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tankchair.com/img/img2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tankchair.com/about.htm&usg=__uX9Dlg874UIdgBcVmFaRHb2CGgg=&h=363&w=360&sz=149&hl=en&start=3&tbnid=7qrG1bh1YtXz3M:&tbnh=121&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dall%2Bterrain%2Bwheelchairs%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG