Desperate but Determined!

Good morning! And if you're one of the high profile people I've spammed on Twitter who have actually taken time out to read this - thank you very much and I do apologise for the outright cheek of contacting you. Actually, I don't. I'm desperate!

I'm in pain, I'm tired and I'm fed up of using a wheelchair that exacerbates those feelings! Despite this, I'm still dancing! Literally!

Yesterday's dance group was great fun, we're now moving into learning the duo dances (that's two wheelchairs together) for an upcoming competition, and let's just say, my wheelchair ain't going to cut it! I managed to grab a chance to use a spare chair yesterday that isn't usually available to me, and the comfort compared to mine is extraordinary!

In the interests of being totally transparent, I am not saving to get a proper dance wheelchair. These wheelchairs just aren't suitable at all for every day life (reasons below, if you're interested), so rather than have to fund a new day chair to make day to day life more comfortable and a dance chair, I opted to go for a day chair that is light and manoeuvrable enough to dance in. We've made a few compromises so that the chair is good for dancing in but still suitable as a day chair.

The reason being, my current day chair is simply too heavy - not only for getting around in but also for getting in and out of the car! - and it doesn't give me the support I need for my hip/knee and back

when in use, (it's also too bulky for my wheelchair accessible flat!) so it made sense to get something I could use all the time. A 'proper' dance chair isn't really entirely necessary until you are up to pro standards - which I am not! Yet!

I am also saving for the scooter - unfortunately I do need a larger class three scooter - that means it's suitable to use on the roads, has good suspension and has a bigger pull for getting up hills. Living in Sheffield where there are hills and potholes galore with very few drop kerbs - these are a must!

I use my scooter for getting about locally where there isn't parking such as the hospital, to the local shopping precinct or for going into town where I simply don't have the strength to push a chair up the hills. Part of my condition is fatigue, after all - so whilst I do use a self propelling chair, and I want to keep fit, I know to pick my battles! Above all, I use the scooter to walk my dogs.

My dogs have kept me going through everything and I owe what mobility I do have, to them - I would have given up on walking long ago if I didn't have the dogs to take out. They need to be walked and I want to walk them but I can only manage a walk on foot with them a couple of times a week (I drive them out to where I can let them off the lead so that I can hobble along while they have a good run). I don't know how long I'll be able to keep that up, but the scooter is absolutely necessary for getting them out the rest of the time.

I have found a suitable scooter priced at £1545 - £2000 depending on where you go (I am hoping that by the time I have the money I can still get it for £1545) and the chair has been quoted at £2500. This really is the norm, having spoken to a few people, and I opted for the cheaper options as much as possible in order to keep costs down. Hence I am looking to raise around £4000 in total.

I am not wheelchair bound and am not trying to claim that I am - I can walk - not very well, but I can. The problem is this causes me a lot of pain and drastically cuts down on what I can do for the rest of the day. I have battled it for a very long time and refused to give up my mobility and use the chair, but now, I'd rather have a quality of life from a seated position than insist on going by foot and end up in bed for the rest of the day!

So for those of you who are interested in the difference between the day chair and the dance chair, feel free to read on - for those who aren't, I thank you very much for reading and I will add a progress report on fundraising efforts shortly!

The differences between the chair lie in size and camber of wheels, placement of the axle and the stabilising wheel - as far as I understand. I am by no means an expert but as I understand it these are the main differences.

Firstly, a dance chair is designed to tip up. (This makes wheelies etc much easier) The axle of the wheels is placed further forward to enable tipping. Think about it - you lean back in a chair that the wheels are placed at the back of, and not much will happen, you lean back in a chair that the wheels are further forward and your seat can rotate over the axle, tipping the front of the chair up.

This is great for a dance chair - which you only use on smooth, flat surfaces - it's not good if you're going up a slope!

Secondly, the castor wheels at the front are much smaller on a dance chair - again, the floor is smooth, so there is nothing for those wheels to climb over, the smaller the better as that enables a tighter spin and a smaller chair - but put those wheels on a day chair and as soon as you hit a tile that's slightly raised or a small stone, the chair will stop as the wheels are too small to climb over it.

The stabiliser on the back - some chairs have this, and some don't. The standard NHS 'battering ram' that I use, doesn't because the chair hardly tips at all. The axle is right at the back and you have to work very hard to get a tip on the chair (hence why it's not suitable for independent use - getting up kerbs on your own - or for dance). The lighterweight chair designed for every day use will tip more easily than the one I have but not as easily as a dance chair, this is so that when out alone, you can get it up kerbs and over obstacles and it has two stabilisers on the back, spaced apart from each other to provide stability when climbing such obstacles. The dance chair's stabiliser is a single wheel in the middle that rotates - this enables you to spin on your stabiliser (when doing wheelies, for example) but is not very stable for climbing kerbs.

So as you can see, there is a lot of difference between the two and hopefully this explains my reasoning behind opting for a day chair - it will still be perfectly suitable for the dancing I am currently doing and hopefully, if - sorry WHEN - I get to the standard of dance that I need a pro dance chair, I can cross that bridge when I come to it!