GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - The winter weather can slow us all down.
Snow and ice make it difficult to maneuver the roads and sidewalks. But one man is not letting the winter weather stop him, against all odds.
Tom Hernon is trying to expand the horizons of people who use wheelchairs through a new invention by his company Back 2 Sports.
Hernon likes to participate in luge and other sports, despite being paralyzed.
Hernon broke his back and became paralyzed eleven years ago, while racing dirt bikes.
He says, "As soon as I got to the hospital, I saw things that weren't right with adaptive equipment."
In addition to competing in the luge, he started a business building adaptable wheelchairs. Hernon was inspired partly by his experiences at the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex.
He says, "I started doing the luge and really couldn't move out there. Muskegon gets a ton of snow. I'd get out of the car and I couldn't get up to the lodge. People would have to just drag me. It got to be pretty tough."
He converted a wheelchair so he can put skis on it to get around in the winter. It makes it easier to simply get out of the house.
Hernon recalls, "The year after my wife died, I stayed in all winter. We'd get snow and I just wouldn't go anywhere. I had to start getting out and really getting exercise. Cause if you don't get out and use those muscles, you lose those muscles."
Hernon's ski chair also makes it easier to get out into nature.
He says, "One of the biggest things I miss from being paralyzed, I can't go walk through the woods. I grew up in the woods and I love going and hiking and fishing and all that kind of stuff. This can get you out there. You can go ice fishing."
The chair which Hernon and his son built themselves can also be converted for tennis, bicycling and more. Hernon says that makes it more affordable than the typical adaptive wheelchair, which can cost thousands of dollars for one activity.
Hernon explains, "I want to make adaptive sport affordable to people. Get them in to a mass merchandiser, get them into a manufacturer here that can crank out 100 or 200 at a time. So, instead of being $2,500, it could be probably $500 or $600. Then, to get 5 or 6 pieces of equipment of $500, that's something that people can afford."
So, Hernon hopes to expand his business to be able to help more people.
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