Ryan Chalmers Pushing His Chair Across America - Michael Hiles

This morning, I sat waiting at the end of my drive while a small line of traffic passed. Some lead and chase vehicles for a couple of guys in racing wheelchairs.

WAIT!!

WTF?!?!?!?

I mean, I?m pretty comfortable with the random strangeness one experiences when living out in the sticks. But I?ve generally never seen any guys racing down my state route in competition wheelchairs.

I snapped a pic of the guys and their chase vehicle as the line of vehicles behind them went around one by one. When I hit town and parked, I posted the pic on Facebook with a little blurb about not knowing anything about their group Push Across America, but I thought it was cool enough these guys were actually wheeling across the US.

After finishing my errands and heading towards my office, I saw the team had made their way into town and was taking a pause at a parking area. I thought to myself, ?Self, turn around and go talk to those guys.?

I do that kind of existential thing from time to time. Call me strange or whatever, but I do meet some really cool people that way.

The chase van driver was Roger Muller, the founder of Stay-Focused. Roger Muller worked in both academia and the business world before committing to his passion of creating an organization that would provide teens with a unique learning experience.

On a diving trip to Grand Cayman in 2000, Roger dived with his brother Bobby, a Marine Corps combat veteran and a paraplegic as a result of an injury sustained in Vietnam. Seeing how much Bobby enjoyed the freedom of diving, Roger decided Stay-Focused would be dedicated to offering teens with disabilities the same opportunity to enjoy the water that his brother had experienced. Stay-Focused was incorporated in January, 2003.

The two guys in chairs were roommates, Ryan and Aaron. They?re both competitive Paralympians and literally wheeling their chairs across the nation. They?re sponsored by Dart (you know, party red Solo cups for the keg), Marriott, the Cayman Islands tourism (uhhh, ok now I REALLY want to get to know these guys!!), PADI (the SCUBA diving folks), GoPro (WOAH COOLNESS FACTOR WENT WAY UP!!), GermX and the McIntyre Group.

Ryan Chalmers graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011, majoring in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism. He learned to SCUBA dive with Stay-Focused in 2005, and was selected to be the first Stay-Focused mentor in 2007. Ryan competed in wheelchair track in the World Championships in 2011, and was a member of Team USA in the Paralympic Games in London in 2012. He recently became a PADI certified Divemaster in October of 2012. This spring he will Push Across America to raise awareness for the potential of all persons with disabilities, to highlight the importance of leadership programs for disabled teens, and to give back to the organization that helped change his life.

Ryan will be pushing the equivalent of two to three marathons a day for 71 days.

WAIT!!!!

WTF?!?!?!?

This guy is a total MONSTER! He reminds me so much of my friend Rudy.

My friend and mentor, Rudy Szlavi, taught me many years ago the value of focus and drive. Rudy was an inspiration to me because he too lived his entire adult life in a chair. A victim of an auto accident his freshman year in college left him without the use of his legs. I spent a lot of time with Rudy, and I got to understand the mindset of someone with a physical limitation.

There?s a business rule in this? one I?ve held dear, as it keeps me through the troughs and levels my head during the peaks. That gruff Hungarian used to say to me in his hardcore New England accent?

?You think you got it rough kid? At least you got your fuckin? legs, so I don?t want to hear it? CANDY ASS!!?

That burned into my mind as I watched Rudy deal with everyday things we all take for granted. He didn?t get down. He was a machine. He worked every day? and when he?d get sick or weak, he?d push himself to the brink of collapse because he was afraid to not get back up.

Sadly, Rudy succumbed to cancer in 2004. I miss that foul-mouthed, love-able Yoda of mine.

I really wish Ryan, Aaron, Roger and the Push Across America / Stay Focused team well in their efforts to accomplish an amazing feat of physical and mental stamina.

We?re all candy asses compared to these guys!

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Source: http://michaelhiles.com/ryan-chalmers-pushing-his-chair-across-america/

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