Life in a wheelchair can be hard, but things just got a little easier for Boerne paralympic athlete Jason Tabansky.
Tabansky, a gold medalist in archery at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, was presented with a customized wheelchair by the non-profit group Wheelchairs for Warriors during a brief ceremony last week at the Black Rifle Coffee Company in Boerne.
Tabansky said he knows this new wheelchair will be a game changer for him.
“This is not only going to make mobility a lot more of an easy thing but I’m going to be able get rid of the pain, that’s the big thing,” he said. “When I can have a full day without pain, I’ll be able to function better, I’ll be able to train harder and I’ll be able to compete harder. Having a custom-fit wheelchair that’s made 100 percent for me is like a football player that gets the best pair of cleats, they can make the cuts, they can sprint and they can run. I’ll be the same way, I’ll get in and out of places, I can weave through traffic, it’s life changing for sure.”
Tabansky said his old wheelchair weighs 45 pounds while the new one is almost half the weight at roughly 25 pounds. The paralympian said his old chair is too wide for him and has led to back problems.
“It throws my arms and hands out, so it causes shoulder pain and it causes arm pain and it starts going down to my back,” he said. “I sit in my chair for 14 to 15 hours a day so making sure it fits correctly is going to alleviate that. It’s like changing out a bad pair of shoes and getting a new pair.”
Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce President Kimberley Blohm said a few words at last week’s event and Wheelchairs for Warriors representatives Tina Phelipot and Crystal Laramore presented Tabansky with the new titanium wheelchair.
It also came with a rechargeable motorized power assist that attaches to the front of the wheelchair and will make going up inclines or traveling over uneven surfaces a whole lot easier.
The power assist mechanism itself costs about $10,000, while the chair is valued at roughly $7,500. There was an additional $3,000 associated with shipping the chair and having a representative from the wheelchair maker in San Diego, California, travel to Tabansky’s house to measure his body and measure entryways and exits around his house.
Phelipot said the nonprofit 501(c)(3) Wheelchairs for Warriors organization steps in when the Veterans Administration denies or delays getting a new wheelchair for someone who has been injured in the line of duty like Tabansky was.
“Sometimes it takes the VA two to three years, up to five years to get a specialized chair,” she said. “We can do it in three to six months.”
Tabansky said he had to make some adjustments to the new chair and hoped to be in it by the next day. He’ll be making a trip to South Korea for an archery competition next month and is excited to take his new chair.
“I’m stoked, I’m super stoked,” he said. “In a sports career, it can be the difference between winning and losing.”
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