McKenzie's Story

Kerry, McKenzie’s mum:

McKenzie has needed to rely on a wheelchair since the age of five after some complications following spinal surgery. McKenzie was classified as an occasional wheelchair user since he didn't need to use his manual self-propelling chair his chair inside. The standard wheelchair that we were given was extremely heavy and McKenzie found it very difficult to be able to move it. It was really heavy for both Matthew and I to be able to pick up and put in the car and we were constantly pulling our backs. We also weren't allowed height adjustable handles so we both found ourselves stooping over the chair when pushing it.

Having to rely on us and adults to move him around was very hard for both us and McKenzie, and I could tell he just wanted to go off and do things on his own without needing help all of the time.

If we did go out, we would usually have to push McKenzie after a short while because it was just too heavy for him. It was also only fitted to a certain degree, which meant that it wasn’t comfortable for him to sit in and it didn’t offer him the support he required. I could see McKenzie getting tired a lot and exasperated because he just couldn’t do the things that he could see his friends doing. It is such a developmental age and he eventually started to reject the chair, often trying to get up and walk in sheer frustration, which ended up causing him a lot of pain.

We contacted Whizz Kidz, who were just brilliant, and met with a Whizz Kidz therapist, who fitted McKenzie for a new lightweight wheelchair. He was involved in the whole process and even chose the colour red. When his brand new red wheelchair arrived and he tried it out, he was so excited. It was so light and fast and very easy to control. He went whizzing off to try it out and said, ‘wow my chair is really light’. It was such an emotional moment for all us and we were just so happy to see that he finally had a chair that made it possible for him to do the things he wants to do without feeling so restricted.

McKenzie has come on leaps and bounds since getting his wheelchair from Whizz Kidz. He is so much more confident and seeing him so comfortable has been wonderful.