When a Vancouver man’s power wheelchair was stolen over the weekend, he lost a lot of his mobility along with it. But, a stranger’s generous donation restored it.
“Everything took me by surprise,” said Chris Cash, 36, who has cerebral palsy. He said the wheelchair helped him get around without getting too tired.
Saturday morning, Cash’s roommate discovered that his chair was missing around 7 a.m. Indentations in the gravel driveway suggest someone dragged the chair out of the garage. Cash surmises someone took the chair between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. because he saw the chair earlier in the morning.
The wheelchair had already been out of commission for a few months. The battery was dead and he was saving up to buy a new one. Cash originally paid $18,500 for the chair over a two-year period. He does not have the money or insurance to purchase a new chair.
Vancouver police took a report, but Cash did not have the serial number for his chair — a critical piece of info in recovering it.
Cash later went to Archery World, where he volunteers five days each week and practices on Saturdays.
“My chair got stolen this morning. I’m not a very happy camper,” he told his co-workers.
After The Columbian’s television news partner, KATU-TV, aired a story Sunday night about the theft, Cash was flooded with offers from people looking to donate a motorized wheelchair.
He accepted an offer from a Woodland woman, who had a chair that was the right size and fit his needs.
“I am so blessed. Now I can do my job without getting really tired,” Cash said.
Without the swift donation, Cash said he would have been without a chair for up to a year. It takes several doctor consultations to start the process of getting a chair built.
