Freedom Push Chair

Freedom Push Chair

by: Advanced Mobility

Kellisa's new chair arrived about a week ago. Since we've been very busy, I wasn't able to assemble the chair until this afternoon. Kellisa watched with great excitement as I opened the box and got the chair ready for our first walk in our living room. The chair was easy to assemble and we were ready to go in a matter of a few minutes. You may notice that this chair looks like our modified "off-road" chair (Independence) we've been using for a couple of years. That's because the Freedom is made by the same company, Advanced Mobility. Kellisa had outgrown her Independence chair and the Freedom is the next size up.

We didn't have time to test the chair on a trail, but we did have time to walk 3.34 miles around our neighborhood. You can see Kellisa is excited in the picture above and she is actually signing "yes" because I asked her if she liked her new chair.

We are looking forward to many miles and countless adventures with our new Freedom Push Chair! We pushed the Independence chair to the limits and it survived without a single issue. I can already tell that the Freedom is built just as sturdy, perhaps even better, so I have zero doubts that this chair will be up for some serious trails.

Bandera Volcano and the Ice Cave

New Mexico's Land of Fire and Ice

June 2006

Along the Continental Divide in New Mexico, you can hike to a volcano crater followed by a descent into a nearby ice cave in a collapsed lava tube where the temperature never rises above 31 F.

The hike to view the crater:

The trail to the Ice Cave leads through old-growth Juniper, Fir and Ponderosa Pines:

The Ice Cave:

Leaving the Ice Cave (not exactly accessible):

Christmas 2005

Christmas 2005

The picture below might be shocking, but it's nothing compared to how Kellisa looked when she was wheeled back to her hospital room on December 16, 2005, following her shunt replacement surgery. Even though it was her 18th surgery (as of 12.25.05), I was not prepared to see her shaved and heavily bandaged head. This would be Kellisa's 3rd surgery in as many months. Kellisa had two shunt repair surgeries, one on October 6th and one on November 15th. When the repairs did not work, a complete shunt replacement was necessary.

 Like usual, even though Kellisa was only nine days removed from a major surgery, she was back to her usual self as she enjoyed Christmas:

All dressed up for a traditional Christmas dinner:

You can see hints of a scar on her neck (left side) in several of the above pictures. However, we don't have a clear picture of the scar. The neurosurgeon had to open Kellisa's neck to help the shunt's drainage tube down to her stomach.