It was only about thirty-three years ago the convenience of a mobility scooter would have changed my dad’s life. In actuality, all of our lives, and would have lifted a burden off me, a child at the time. Of course being about age ten to twelve at the time I didn’t consider it a burden, but what else do you call it when you are the only male in the household besides my father who was confined mostly to a wheel chair. It was me who had to lift him up out of bed, out of the wheel chair, and on occasion from the floor. Anyone who has ever had the need for a mobility scooter should pause for a second and appreciate all the medical advances today. If you think for a second life is hard now… perhaps my little story will make you feel better about things. So let me tell you of my family situation back then:
At about the age of forty, my father was diagnosed with Myotonic Dystrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy that affects muscles and many other organs in the body. In other words; every single muscle in the entire body starts to degrade with the exception of the brain. Now let me tell you why mobility scooters would have played a huge help back then.
Again, being only about ten to twelve at the time, perhaps 100 lbs. myself, lifting him at 175 lbs. was tough, the wheelchairs back then were metal and weighed about 70 lbs. and I remember one particular night rushing him to the hospital I was desperately trying to lift the wheelchair on to the car’s luggage rack. It was in the middle of the night at very cold. That was a particular struggle I will never forget. The rest of the immediate family consisted of my sister who was about six or seven, and my mom who was petite and had her hands full with everything else. Little thing me was promoted to being was the “muscle” of the family.
Oh how a scooter rental would have made things easier. First it would have allowed us some freedom, but I can recall the one and only time we made it to Disney. Now it is common, but back then you would have never used the words scooter rental Disney World. It didn’t exist yet. Thanks to my Grandma who said we had to visit Florida, that things were different here and while even in a wheel chair my Dad could have some freedoms. As I walk around the theme parks it seems commonplace for mobility scooter rental Orlando. Mobility scooters have been the norm here. I Googled once on my phone ‘mobility scooter rental’ and was amazed with the results. I didn’t realize how many scooter rentals near me there were.
Here we are many years later… instead of pushing my dad’s wheel chair all over, and I mean ALL over, with a tap on your phone, comes a mobility scooter rental fit for anyone! The cost is so insignificant; I won’t even go into that. In the proverbial sense, a mobility scooter would have been a lifesaver for us back then, hence my appreciation.
Michael Roberto