BEND, Ore. — Patrik Nabelek lives with muscular dystrophy, but he loves to get outside.

“There's one thing to look at kind of nature stuff from afar, but it's another to kind of get really get in there," Nabelek said. "And so, I hope a lot of other people will get the same opportunity I have had.”

Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that leads to muscle weakness over time, which is why he gets around in his power wheelchair.

“When I was younger, I used to do lots of outdoor stuff, like I used to go skiing and did some hiking and stuff," Nabelek said. "But then, as I got older and the disease got more severe, I couldn’t do that anymore. A real good change for me was when I got a nice power chair that allowed me to get out and go outside, like, go on kind of long walks on paved and stuff.”

The vast majority of nature trails aren’t paved, limiting Nabelek on his outdoor excursions until his mother, Anne Trehu, found out about AdvenChair.

“We’ve taken it to the coast. We’ve taken it on a number of trails around town here," Trehu said. "Narrow, muddy trails that were totally inaccessible for the power chair.”

AdvenChair is an adaptive, human-powered wheelchair designed to help people with physical disabilities get outside. The current design of AdvenChair is version 3.0. The first version was built in 2016. It was inspired and created by Geoff Babb.

“It means a lot for me, to me, to help people be outside,” Babb said.

Geoff Babb has experienced two strokes and now lives with quadriparesis, which means he experiences weakness in all four limbs. We first met him in 2020 when he was at the hospital for a medical emergency. Back then, there was only one AdvenChair. But now, 10 more have been built and sold to people like Nabelek.

“Despite all these setbacks, the pandemic and health and weather, we're really happy with where we are,” Babb said.

Now, there are AdvenChairs from coast to coast with one making it all the way to Machu Picchu. Babb says a couple from Los Angeles reached out to him with the desire to take the chair to the iconic spot.

“They were just ecstatic," Babb said. "Nelly is from Peru, but she’s never been to Macchu Picchu and so for her to be able to take Robert, her husband, who had a stroke, take him to Macchu Picchu in the chair, it was it's a big moment for them.”

Babb says they were able to use AdvenChair for everything—from getting on planes, trains, and buses to the Macchu Picchu trail. That’s one of the benefits of the latest design. It’s convertible to be used indoors and outdoors.

“We got this, in part, to travel to New Zealand, because power chairs and airplanes don’t mix very well, and with this front wheel off, it does serve as a regular wheelchair,” Trehu said.

As a professor in earth, oceanic and atmospheric sciences, Trehu says she hopes AdvenChairs can eventually help students with physical disabilities get out in the field for research. It’s something that could be happening very soon as Babb and his team ramp up for another production of AdvenChairs in 2022.

“Soon after the pandemic, we’ll get the chair out as much as possible and get more exposure and get as many smiles on faces as we can,” Babb said.
 

At just 12 years old, Cody Unser was left paralyzed from the waist down.

“I was really depressed and angry,” Unser said. “You know, everybody has like an idea of what their life is going to be like… especially when you're younger, you have all these dreams and aspirations.”

Her paralysis was caused by a rare autoimmune disease called Transverse Myelitis. The disease causes inflammation of the spinal cord, the part of the nervous system which sends messages from the brain to nerves.

Unser adapted to the challenge of life in a wheelchair and then dove deep into the daring sport of scuba diving.

“It was the first time that I felt not only free, but also very confident, independent,” she said.

Unser and her late mother, Shelley, founded the Cody Unser First Step Foundation shortly after her diagnosis, to improve quality of life for those living with spinal-cord related paralysis.

On the third anniversary of her mother's death, Unser partnered with The Scuba Company to hold an event at the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center in New Mexico to teach people with disabilities the power of adaptive scuba diving.

Rio Rancho Mayor Greg Hull attended and participated in the event.

“This is just another example of how we want to make sure we're reaching out to the whole community – that we're being inclusive and making sure that everyone has a great quality of life here,” he said.

But inclusivity is often a struggle for people with disabilities.

“We live in a concrete jungle that's not always giving to people with disabilities,” Unser said.

The beauty of scuba diving, she said, is that it can be adapted to nearly everyone.

Twenty-five-year-old Cameron Lewis' way of life changed this past April when his leg was amputated following a nasty crash on I-40.

His doctor recommended he attend Unser's event to meet new people and better adapt to his new circumstances. Although it was his first time scuba diving, it's safe to say, it won't be his last.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “It's making me work a lot of joints I haven't moved in a while. It's freeing, I love it.”

Yasmany Fuentes, a certified instructor and manager at The Scuba Company said watching people experience the sport brings him immense joy.

“They're just feeling weightless, the weight of the world, the stress, how injured they are, how heavy they are, however the equipment is…. it does not matter,” he said. “They're completely weightless. They're in complete Zen.”

“Our motto is ‘changing lives one dive at a time.’” Unser said. “It really only takes one dive to change someone's life.”

If you'd like to learn more about this program, you can visit their website at www.codysfirststep.org

Watch the video above for Cody's full story.