When I returned home from the hospital, I was greeted by a cheering, crying crowd of friends and relatives. I attempted to smile, but when my wife and little girl came before me,i started crying. It had been over a year since I had seen my daughter in the flesh, and I couldn’t contain myself. Generally soldiers are perceived to be tough, but it is all right for the fathers and husbands to cry a bit some times. I was not aware what i should look forward to or how she is going to feel about my new mode of transport. Last fall I was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq and since then I have been paralyzed from the waist down. My daughter, Sarah, just smiled and said “Daddy.”

It has been several months since then and I still worry about my family. I worry about how they are going to take car of me. To start wth, i had no clue on how they are going to move me into our van. That was the time when my wife started inquiring about handicap lifts.Handicap lifts are devices that help disabled people get from their wheelchairs into their vehicles. It looks a bit like your own private swing that is attached to a luggage rack. You simply take a seat in your lift and then you can easily be moved to your vehicle. All handicap lifts have wheels on the bottom, so it is easy to move someone on the driveway right up to the car seat. Handicap liftsalso have hand cranks that allow you to lift someone as high as you need to easily transfer them into the vehicle. Once the person is sitting comfortably in the car, most of the handicap lifts could be folded and easily stored in a trunk or backseat. They do not even need to be disassembled.

Although it was very difficult for me or my family to cope with my new condition, handicap lifts paved the way for a smoother transition. Atleast we need not be bothered about how to transport daddy in and out of the family minivan. And mommy doesn’t have to start weight lighting or eating raw eggs so she can lift me into my seat.This new handicap lift is a great addition to our already installed stair lift in the house, and makes every day easier.

Shopping for a wheelchair lift is like shopping for anything else—you wouldn’t believe how many different models they have! There are basically two type ofwheelchair lifts that can be used for you vehicle—an internal wheelchair lift and an external one. An internal wheelchair lift is secured inside the trunk of your vehicle and it slowly hoists the chair into your trunk, while the external models attach to the hitch of your car or truck and lift the chair into the trunk. Because of storage reasons, I decided to go with the internal wheelchair lift.

Jess reacted very positively and smiled on seeing her new lift. It was revealed later on that she was also bothered by the pains i took in loading and unloading the wheelchair for quite sometime.

“That’s sweet,” I said. “But you didn’t have to worry about me.”

“I wasn’t,” she said, and smiled. “I thought you were going to drop my chair.”

We both laughed for a long time. Then we got in the car and went out for a bite to eat. Since we have acquired this new wheelchair lift ,loading and unloading her chair requires almost no effort – almost as simple as operating the stair lift at home. It seems so surprising to me that i spent so much time struggling with it in the past. But hey, that’s what big brothers are for.

Now grandpa can load and unload his scooter by himself, which gives him more independence With his new scooter lift, he is free once more to do more of what he wants to do Mom is currently happy also She reports that her dad has more vim and vigor than she can ever remember She says she hopes she’s like that when she’s his age I wish for that also All I can say is thank goodness for that scooter lift, our entire family is very happy with the end resultI only wish we had known how useful they are sooner

Wheelchair lifts do exactly what you might expect—they help you lift a heavy or unwieldy wheelchair into the back of your car, truck, or van. Wheelchair liftscome in two types: external lifts and internal lifts. The external lifts fit perfectly on to the hitch of your car in the back, Where as internal ones are kept safely in the trunk and can let your chair climb very quickly. Since Stephen’s wheelchair is a little heavier than most, my parents looked at models of external wheelchair lifts.

The model they ended up choosing can lift up to 350 pounds and is really easy to use. Stephen just drives his chair onto the ramp and it’s ready to be loaded. After the durable, metal ramp is locked into place, it does all the work by itself. Even a power source is not needed for it! When these wheelchair lifts are finished doing their job, they can even be folded up for easy storage.

Mom loves the freedom wheelchair lifts have given our family. Now she can take Stephen’s wheelchair just about anywhere without having to worry about getting it in and out of her minivan.

A scooter lift does just what you might expect—it helps grandpa lift his mobility scooter into his car. The scooter lift my mom bought for him is easy to use. You need not have to be bolted on the car,it is simply attached to the hitch of the car. It runs on the battery of the scooter itself. Grandpa just connects it to the battery and the scooter lift does the rest. After only a few moments, the scooter lifthoists the mobility scooter up high enough so that grandpa can guide it into the open trunk. Then he just removes the scooter lift from the hitch and places it in the trunk right alongside the scooter. Its that simple! You can break nearly all the lifts into three constituent pieces, so they can be kept preserved any where.

Now grandpa can move around,with out seeking help from strangers, for as long as he desires. His new scooter lift allows him to the freedom and independence he has always cherished. Mother is happy, too. She claims that she never found her father so much full of live and vigour. She says she aspires to be like him when she reaches his age. I hope that, too.