I am 50 years old and am bound to a wheelchair as a result of muscular dystrophy. I went into the chair at the age of 19. Prior to going into the chair I did everything I could to be active. I'm very thankful to a family that spent a lot of time doing outdoor activities. I spent time camping, hiking, and even canoeing. I was very restless and wanted to do everything I possibly could. I moved back east, went into the chair, and met my wife when I was nineteen. The next year we were married and making plans to start a family. Life was taking off. We had four children over the next ten years. In the early nineties we started a business that would end seven years later...Life starts to take a turn. My wife is stricken by an unknown neurological disorder. Over the course of the next couple of years she too became wheelchair bound. Wow Life is crazy. We moved back west as both of our physical conditions were deteriorating. One more curve ball ... my wife loses the ability to handle the effects of her affliction and has been drawn into a depressed state that has caused her to be bed bound. I would be remiss not to mention that the faithful sacrifice and daily nurturing from our children has allowed us to live at home.. Being in the chair is something that I could deal with however when my wife, Rose became affected, the battled changed. The past couple of years I found myself the restless adventurer spending more and more time in my bed next to hers. I feel a deep stirring that I must make this journey to reclaim life for me and my family. I hope you join us and share the experience of this journey. Here is my favorite quote "Capture the moment and experience eternity".
- James Barnett
So my dad was involved in a horrible wheelchair crash last week which threw him out of the chair and launched him 6 feet face down on the road into oncoming traffic. This was the single most horrifying event I have ever witnessed in my life. We also discovered after a little bit that he had pneumonia which seems was brought on by the intensity of the crash, though we are not really sure. We had a scare on weds and we were told my dad might not make and possibly may have only a few hours to live. By a miraculous turn of events he pulled through and is on the road to recovery!! I couldn't be more thankful and thrilled. We have all been under so much stress dealing with this so to finally have good news was such a relief. I know we missed some days of dispatches on the blog so I thought I would share some uplifting pictures from when the trip was going well. We will probably not be continuing on at this point but we are talking of rescheduling when James is all healed up.He sustained fractures on both knees and his left arm so those will take months to heal and he needs to be in tip top shape for a road journey as crazy as ours. Thanks for all the support! Stay tuned for more info soon.
