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Floor sags under man’s wheelchair; he seeks helpTue, 10/10/2006 - 4:23pm
By: Ben Nelms
What is needed is a hand up, not a hand out. And for north Fayette resident Larry Wicker and his family, that hand would be especially meaningful. Put simply, the Wicker’s home in Four Seasons Mobile Home Park is in need of repairs that the family cannot accomplish without help. A particular hazard is the flooring, which sags in places under the weight of his wheelchair. As residents of Four Seasons for the past eight years, the family has done much of the repair work on the 30-year-old mobile home themselves. But there is a limit, both with the expertise needed to accomplish the more difficult repairs and the funds necessary to meet the expense. As much as anything, Larry faces the physical challenges of major plumbing work and the need to replace a large amount of flooring due to the limitations imposed by a congenital condition known as arthrogryposis. He gets along as well as many people, considering that the contracted joints in his wrists keep his hands permanently folded under. Larry negotiates his wheelchair handily through the 900-square-foot residence. The chair is a necessity since his legs were amputated at age 9. And even some of the work the 48-year-old was previously able to do on his own is now hampered by the degenerating disks in his upper spine and the creeping scoliosis that affects his back. Realistically, the family does not have the funds to pay for the work. Larry has no current employment due to the conditions that affect his body and the family’s sole source of income comes from his wife Rachael’s job in Fayetteville. Faced with similar challenges, many people resign themselves to an outlook devoid of optimism or hope. But not Larry. He is a bit different. Larry writes and worked on small woodworking projects before his condition worsened. He improvises needed areas of the home environment, even using his hands to fashion a shaving apparatus by using a wooden stirring spoon from the kitchen. But Larry Wicker is also willing to see the bright side of adversity, even with the amputations he experienced as a child. “At 9 years old they amputated my legs, which was great for me,” he said with a chuckle. “They were folded like an Indian would sit, all the time, they never moved. And when they were amputated I doubled in size within a year. It was pretty amazing.” With a single wage earner in the family and two children and plenty of bills to pay, Larry agreed that a helping hand would be a blessing. “You can only fix 30-year-old pipes so much. It seems like every time you fix one part of the pipe something on the other side of the house will start leaking,” Larry explained, pointing into the kitchen where sheets of plywood cover the weak areas that make standing or moving a wheelchair nothing short of precarious. “And I guess about half the house needs the floor replaced. But the thing is, we don’t want a handout. We just need help fixing things. It gets pretty weird going down the hall and having your wheelchair teetering on places that are going to give way. And I don’t want my children to get hurt either.” Larry Wicker is a man who laughs easily. And he is a man who needs a helping hand to meet some of the needs that are out of his control. Anyone with a hand to lend can contact Larry Wicker at 770-783-2829. login to post comments
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