Wheely inventive: Christian Thomas and Laurie Moorfoot with the modified wheelchair.
JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
A FUTILE 18-month worldwide search for mobility has ended in a local solution for Whittington spina bifida sufferer Christian Thomas.
Mr Thomas and wife Connie were searching for a wheelchair attachment that would enable him to deliver Independents and pamphlets each week.
Neighbour Laurie Moorfoot heard his frustration, so the retired electrician and machinist set to work.
Mr Moorfoot built an attachment turning Mr Thomas’s wheelchair into a hand-pedalled trike.
Mr Thomas can now reach speeds of 20km/h through a 15-speed gear system.
“Finally I have blister-free mobility,”
The attachment interested TADVic Barwon, a volunteer organisation making custom equipment for disabled people.
TADVic’s Alan Boyd said the attachment could go on the organisation’s national database to benefit other people around Australia.
