10 Year Old-Wheelchair/Stroller What to do?

[mjarecki]

My 10 year old has a rare lung disease and cannot walk or stand for long periods of time. In order to help him enjoy our upcoming trip and to save the sanity of the rest of us he is going to need to ride in a stroller or a wheelchair. We have been to Disney World in 2009 (prior to his lung disease) 2010, 2011 and Disneyland in 2012. All four times he has been able to fit in the double strollers at Disney World and our own stroller at Disneyland. He has gained about 15 pounds since last year and I just don't know that the stroller is going to work, not to mention that he refuses to ride in one. I thought about renting a wheelchair at the parks, but they are so big and don't come with the option of an oxygen tank holder which we may want to have. I wanted to rent in the parks because I didn't want to hassle with getting anything on the monorail and buses, plus I thought that we could let him walk some and then when he gets tired go rent a wheelchair. I think renting a child size wheelchair would be best, but don't know a good company to do that from plus I just really don't want to hassle with the whole loading and taking back to our room. What to do??? I'm not even sure that he will be ok with the wheelchair idea, but he won't make it two hours without some sort of transportation. Help!

 

[lanejudy]

I believe Apple rents pediatric-sized wheelchairs. Not sure if a 16-inch might be big for a 10-yr-old, but definitely better than a full-size chair. Check out the disAbilities FAQ sticky at the top of this forum, I think post #2 is about wheelchair and ECV rentals. Other companies may also rent pediatric size chairs.

I think you are much better off renting from off-site. If your son may have trouble making it through 2 hours, I can't imagine how tired he might be trying to leave the parks at night and get back to your resort. A manual wheelchair would fold on the buses or monorail so you don't need to worry about loading.

Another option is to rent a special needs stroller, which are larger with higher weight limits than standard strollers, and definitely more comfortable than the park-rental doubles. But if he's balking at the stroller idea, that probably isn't a viable option.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[clanmcculloch]

When my 13yo was 10 she needed a wheelchair due to a broken ankle. Like your DS, no way was she going to ride in a stroller. After talking with a wheelchair rental company we determined that a 16" chair would be a much better fit for her than a standard size chair. At the time she was around 4'8" and 80lb. The arms were probably a bit high and a narrow seat would likely have been a little bit better but overall the 16" chair was pretty comfortable for her to sit in for extended periods of time. Just check with any of the preferred rental companies and they should have chairs that will fit him. If you talk with somebody on the phone just tell them his height and weight and they should know the best size.

The busses really aren't a big deal with a wheelchair that folds. You can treat it like a stroller meaning fold it up and hold it. That means you don't have to actually wait for a bus that has an available tie down spot and you don't have to wait on the chair to be tied down and then unhooked when you arrive. It really is pretty easy. Getting on the monorail is even easier. A CM will put down a ramp and you'll just wheel the chair onto the monorail. The CM will ask where you're getting off so that he can call ahead to that location to let them know that there's somebody in your car that will need the ramp to get off and somebody will be ready to put down the ramp for you when you get there. Since you'll be using a manual wheelchair you can use the boats at Poly but it's not as easy since you have to lift the chair up into the boat as there's no ramp. I'd stick with the monorail. There's an elevator inside the Great Ceremonial House near the stairs for getting upstairs to the monorail loading area.

If he wants to walk at any time whether it's at the resort, between the bus stops and the parks, or even in the parks he can. Having the chair doesn't mean he can't walk. It just means he CAN sit down when he needs it. Remember that if you need to bring his oxygen, even if he's not riding in the chair it'll be nice to have it for hauling that tank.

 

[mjarecki]

So, I guess wheelchair is the way to go. I called all of the preferred vendors and only one has a 16 inch (somewhat child size) wheelchair, but it doesn't have the option to add an oxygen tank holder. Ugh! So we have to choose either no oxygen or go with an adult size one with oxygen tank holder. I can't believe that it's not possible to get both. Frustrating.

 

[joanchris]

There should be a way for you to add on a portable oxygen tank holder (it could come in handy for future use as well). If you google Oxygen tank holder there will be options for nylon holders that attach to the back of a wheelchair. Hoping someone will be able to let you know how well these might work, it may be dependent on the size of the tank. Then you could get the size chair that is best and add the holder over the back handles.

 

[tobikaye]

Have you checked to see if you have any local medical supply companies that will rent? I know it might be a bit of a hassle to transport, but it might get you what you need.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Could you just pick up your own cheap oxygen tank holder? Looking on amazon, they look pretty cheap and they look like they'd even fold up really small for transport.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=oxygen+tank+holder+wheelchair&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aoxygen+tank+holder+wheelchair

 

[my3princes]

check out ebay you may be able to purchase one for your needs that you can use at home as well. We've done well. Insurance purchased a pediatric folding wheelchair for one of our boys, but the policy changed before #2 needed one as well. Ebay was our solution. It make airport travel easier and if we do day trips around home that require a lot of walking or standing we are all set. They have foot and leg issues, not lung, but same results.