Weightlifter with cerebral palsy back on a roll with new wheelchair
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/05/2016 (3621 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Phil Emmerson grits his teeth as he pushes weight around Anytime Fitness in Brandon, and behind his strained face is a smile.
The 35-year-old showed off his new titanium wheelchair at the gym on Thursday.
Last summer, Emmerson started a GoFundMe campaign with the hopes of raising enough money to buy a new chair rated to handle the rigours of weightlifting.
His old chair was bent, relied on a makeshift harness and had to be rewelded after part of it broke while he was working out.
“I think the new chair is fantastic,” said Emmerson, who, as an infant, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a chronic condition that affects body movement and co-ordination.
“I feel more secure, more solid and I feel like I can try different ideas at the gym now that I have a chair that works.”
With the help of Brandon Mobility, Optimize and Permobile, Emmerson was custom-fitted for his new chair, which is more durable and has stronger brakes to help him in his power-lifting goals.
“I’m hard on my equipment because I use it the way I want to use and I want to improve at what I’m doing,” said Emmerson, who is an educational assistant with the Brandon School Division and also works part-time at the gym.
More than 75 people stepped up to help Emmerson’s dream become a reality including the Brandon Police Association, which donated some of the proceeds from its charity golf tournament toward the project last summer.
After nine months, however, the campaign stalled.
With only 80 per cent of the $5,000 needed for a new chair, it was a gym friend, Alex McPhail, who came to Emmerson’s rescue.
“I was at a down point,” Emmerson recalled about feeling he might fall short of his goal. “I really needed the new chair and I felt like the campaign wasn’t going to succeed and then he came up to me and asked me ‘How much do you need … because I want to pay the rest of the balance.’”
“For someone to do that it keeps you gassed to do what you need to do.”
Now, it’s full speed ahead for Emmerson who has found solace at the gym, where he spends four to five days a week for up to two hours per day — rain, snow, sleet or shine.
Emmerson has designs on lifting competitively and plans on writing a book about his experiences.
He also knows that sometimes people are skeptical about fundraisers and wanted to show all his supporters that their contribution made a big difference in his life.
“We got over the finish line,” Emmerson said. “And I just want to say ‘Thank you.’”
» ctweed@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @CharlesTweed