Waupun woman surprised with all-terrain wheelchair

WAUPUN, Wis. (WBAY) - One Waupun woman can now spend more time outside thanks to the Action Mobility Foundation for gifting her an all-terrain wheelchair.

Abby Lane is a UW-Oshkosh student, who was injured in an automobile accident while in college in Michigan in 2015. The accident rendered her a paraplegic. Due to Abby being a Wisconsin resident, going to school in Michigan she did not qualify for the “no-fault” insurance coverage the state of Michigan grants for automobile accident victims. Abby’s family was left to pay for all the finances themselves and could not get help through insurance.

When she was Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin in 2016, Lane got to try an Action Trackchair at a disability fair at the Sheboygan County Fair. The chair can be used on snow, sand, woods, trails, and more to get individuals who are normally bound by their mobility conditions outdoors again and gain self-independence. Lane immediately fell in love with the Action Trackchair but never had the funds to get her own despite multiple rounds of fundraising.

“We’ve done GoFundMe’s and all kinds of stuff and it just never worked out. It was never enough. So then you know to have it actually be mine and finally in my grasp, I can’t even tell you how it feels,” Lane said.

Thursday TSS equipment surprised Lane with a chair of her own thanks to a grant from the Action Mobility Foundation from Minnesota.

“Wen your fundraisers fell through I started going to work about 2 years ago. and there are a whole lot of phone calls and emails that went on. and Nate with Action Mobility came through last week,” Kelly Shai, the owner of TSS Equipment told Lane.

Lane said the new chair is something she has only ever dreamed of having, as it will allow her to do some of her favorite things again

“When I was younger, my parents taught me how to fish and hunt and live off the land and I think that’s what I want to get back to doing,” Lane said. “This is a few days late, but Santa Claus really blessed me this year. And it came in the form of an actual trek wheelchair that is going to change my life beyond measure.”

Abby hopes her story will show others that you can get help to get your mobility back after injury.