Bill Purvis gets ready to head "out the door, down the ramp and around the block!"

The SCFF's Foundation has been working on assisting Bill Purvis in obtaining a powered wheelchair since he left the hospital in
December. Brother Stone noticed a chair in a local classified ad and called to get more information on it. After talking with me, I
went to look at it. First though, here is a little background on the chair Bill was to get through his insurance company. It was an Invacare model TDX3 which was priced at about $7600. Bill's insurance company would cover $2000 and the Foundation had voted to pay an additional $3000. We were going to look into raising the rest of the money through donations or possibly a fund raiser. Back to the chair in the ad. It was an Invacare model TDX4 and had never been used, in fact, the batteries had never been charged.

The add was asking $3200 and when I looked at it, it was worth all of that. I explained our situation and agreed to a price of $3000 which
included the chair and 2 folding ramps. Former Foundation President Mike Ryan, Director Bill Stone and I agreed to buy the chair using money from the Foundation. I picked up the chair and had 2 new batteries put in it. On Wednesday I dropped the chair off at Bill's, we got him in the chair and after a few adjustments, he was on his way.

I gave Bill some basic instruction about the operation of the chair, after which he was out the door, down the ramp and around the block.
Bill said to me, "I have been stuck in my house for two and a half years; tied to a wheelchair that I couldn't move on my own since the stroke. You have no idea how happy I am". With tears in his eyes he couldn't thank the Foundation enough. This chair has provided him with a freedom he hasn't known in a while. I pray that this jump starts his rehab and recovery.

This glimmer of hope for Bill comes into a situation already rife with bad news. On Thursday, February 24th, Bill's wife Sue started chemotherapy for breast cancer that went into the lymph node. She will will endure eight treatments over 16 weeks and then undergo radiation therapy.

I will keep everyone updated on their situation and we will continue to support them as much as we can. The Foundation has been very active lately and it is thanks to the members of Local 1171 who are true community service providers. The board directors of the Santa Clara Firefighters Foundation will continue to actively pursue our mission to provide help where ever and whenever we can to people who need help. This community service is a perfect corollary to the emergency services we provide the members of our community where ever and whenever they need us.
 

07/13/2006