Emotions ran high as the last of 200 wheelchairs were handed over to recipients during the final function of the APD and SPAR Eastern Cape Wheelchair Wednesday campaign at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
The 2022 edition marked the 11th year since it was established by the Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities (APD) in the Bay, and was rolled out in the metro and East London on consecutive Wednesdays during October.
This year also marks a decade since SPAR EC jumped on board to bolster the campaign.
Since then 1,600 wheelchairs — donated by Network of Caring — were distributed by APD and 2,600 people took part in the weekly rollouts.
Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Retief Odendaal and Network of Caring’s Desmond Naicker delivered addresses via video during the event last week.
However, the most heartfelt message was delivered by local businessman and paraplegic Bartho de Vries, 43, who was injured in a car accident in Walmer in the city 22 years ago.
De Vries’s message was one of hope and an example of how the right attitude could turn a negative into a positive.
He had been a passenger in a car that crashed into a tree, and said he remembered being outside the car while struggling to regain consciousness and realising that he could not feel his legs.
While at Conradie Hospital in Cape Town, he experienced a sobering moment when the surgeon paid him a visit.
“I will never forget this.
“A doctor came to the bedside and said to me: ‘I’m your surgeon. You obviously have been in a car accident.
“You’ve broken your back and will never walk again. I’ll see you in theatre’.
“And then he just walked to the next bed.
“And, boom, in that instant my life as I knew it was over.”
After six months of rehab, he was left still wondering how he would get through the ordeal.
“Then I was placed in a wheelchair and there was suddenly this realisation that my legs, which I hadn’t seen since the accident, didn’t work,” De Vries said.
“But, let me just tell you, at that very moment I was not disabled.
“I can say it is my ability, not my disability.
“This wheelchair does not define me, it makes me stronger.”
De Vries said everyone had time and talent but they also needed opportunity and resources.
“An initiative like this provides those resources.
“From donating wheelchairs to creating awareness, I salute these organisations.”
Also at the event, SPAR EC sponsorships and events manager Alan Stapleton recalled an incident from one of this year’s Wednesdays that he said would stay with him forever.
“As we gathered that morning at Daku SUPERSPAR, a man arrived in a broken wheelchair which almost buckled, squeaked and barely rolled.
“There was no bar for his feet to rest on — just a piece of wood.”
The man had not been in line to receive a wheelchair but approached the APD hoping for assistance.
“As the man waited and watched others receive their chairs, his hope was surely diminishing.”
Fortunately, APD had made a plan and when he was lifted into a new chair, he burst into tears.
“His face beamed,” Stapleton said.
“I have never seen a happier smile.”
In recent years, Wheelchair Wednesday has widened its reach to include the Amputee Support Group and Nkosinathi Foundation for Blind and Partially Sighted People.
Each received a donation of R25,000 from SPAR.
HeraldLIVE