Today was an incredible day for us and for Gwendolyn. Her shiny new power chair has been in for about a month, but we've been tweaking and fine tuning the set-up weekly so it fits perfectly and provides her the best positioning to drive independently. There are still more tweaks to be made, but today Gwendolyn was able to sit in her power chair and drive for a prolonged period of time in the parking lot of her therapy unit for the first time. She only has control to go straight and right for now — we'll add back and left later — but that isn't slowing her down one bit!
And…oh…did she drive. She was driving in the chair for almost 40 minutes total — which is incredible — and she spent a period of about 15 minutes driving…by herself…without any assistance and without hitting any curbs, etc. or making any moves that would make us turn the chair off and adjust her direction. Today it clicked. She got it. She was comfortable. She was confident. And she was determined. And let me tell you it was incredible to watch and Gwendolyn loved every second of it.
I'm so extremely proud of Gwendolyn. This is not a small step for her. It's major. Think about this. She's never been in control of independently propelling or moving herself in any material way in her entire life. And now she has. And now she can. She loves it. We love it. And we can't wait to see her continue to master the power chair and embrace her new found independence and freedom.
Watch out world! Gwendolyn has wheels now…and she knows how to use them 