Vans Coming Out My Ears

    It was about 10 years ago that I first started looking for a handicap accessible van. I received a break, something I'm not used to. A guy that was hired after I left work had an accessible van that he couldn't get rid of, he offered it to me for free! He had tried to donated to different organizations but they wouldn't take it because of its age. The van is a 1987 Chevy full-size cargo van, it has a Ricon rear entry lift. When I first received it I was still able to transfer into the drivers seat and drive the van myself. As the years went by it got harder and harder to transfer into the drivers seat, until about three years ago when I had to stop attempting it. I still had to transfer from the wheelchair to the seat in the van because the roof isn't high enough for me to stay in my wheelchair. I am now to the point that transferring to a different seat has become too difficult, in fact in the last few weeks the fire department has had to come twice to get me out of the van. It is really a shame, the wife and I really like this van, however the transfer has become a dealbreaker.

    We began a search for new van, one that would let me stay in the wheelchair eliminating the transfer, we thought we found it. I located a 2002 Ford conversion van hightop, already handicap accessible. I knew because of the weight of my wheelchair, and the weight of myself that the lift in this van probably wouldn't work. The lift is a 600 pound capacity and my wheelchair weighs 450 pounds by itself. I spoke with the company that does the van conversions in my area and was told that it would be no problem since there was already a lift in the van, just a matter of swapping them out. Not true. So now I have two vans, one that I can get into but not use, another that I could use if I could only get into it. 

    My cousin passed away in December, he wasn't sick, it was a construction accident. In lieu of flowers his family asked the donations went to a go fund me page in hopes that enough money would be raised for me to get a new van, it was. I tried to figure out a way to make the old van work, I bought another van in hopes of making that work, it was time to buy the van that fit my needs and was ready to go. What we came up with was a $35,000 Toyota sienna, it has a power fold-down lift and you can remove the front seat which allows me to sit up front, something I haven't done in a few years. Now my driveway looks like a handicap accessible van dealership! The next job on the horizon is to sell the other two vans. 

    I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my cousin Kevin who showed an interest in how hard it was for me to transfer in the van after the last time we saw each other in October. I'd also like to thank his family who in their time of grief and loss thought of me. It will forever be appreciated