Wheeling around is a way of life for a Turner Valley mom of four since she was in a car accident in 1996, but it wasn’t until she fell out of her wheelchair in August that she realized just how limited she is.
Quinn Page-Smith was doing something she does almost every day – getting herself into her vehicle – when a mechanism on her wheelchair malfunctioned and she fell out, breaking her right femur.
It was at that point she realized she needed help.
“It’s been a long time since I had the opportunity to think about my needs in terms of my disability,” she said. “When you have a family that’s where the priority is. If I can take better care of myself I take better care of my family.”
Less than a month after reaching out to her community, 188 friends, family and strangers raised more than $30,000 on Page-Smith’s GoFundMe page. This allowed the avid volunteer to order a new wheelchair and a front extension for the chair with a motor and handlebars to act as a motorized tricycle in rougher terrain.
“That gives me the opportunity to be out and about with my kids more,” she said. “I have four boys and it’s often difficult to keep up with them on the soccer field. It just opens up a whole new world of independence for me.”
To help Page-Smith even further, five Diamond Valley residents are hosting a Fall Chair-ity Fun-raiser in her benefit at the Flare ‘n’ Derrick Community Hall on Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. featuring a silent auction, date auction, raffles, bake sale, music and dancing.
Among the organizers is Cindy Bell Coutts, who can’t help but be impressed with her friend’s abilities.
“She does everything I do, but she does it in a wheelchair and I don’t even know how I get through my days,” she said. “I have four kids, the same as her, I have a part-time job, same as her, she volunteers on top of that, which I don’t do. I can’t image doing everything I do and being in a wheelchair.”
Bell Coutts said Page-Smith’s home is very limiting from her back yard to her kitchen.
“She puts a cutting board on a lap and boiling pots of water on her lap and wheels around,” she said. “I can’t believe she does what she does. It’s just amazing.”
Bell Coutts said it’s time Page-Smith got some help.
“She’s always needed this, and especially now,” she said of the wheelchair. “After this has happened it’s made her and a lot of us realize sometimes we have to put ourselves first. She totally deserves it.”
This wasn’t the first time the community came together to support Page-Smith. After she was in the vehicle accident that damaged her spine in 1996, Diamond Valley residents helped renovate her parents’ home to assist with her recovery.
“It’s been 18 years and to see all these people in the same community rallying together again for me has just been amazing,” she said. “It’s been so overwhelming the support that we’ve received.”
Page-Smith hopes to use funds raised at this weekend’s event toward pavement in her front and back yards to make them more accessible, as well as a ramp to her home.
“I have porch lifts, but if the power goes out or there is a fire I have no way of getting out of my home besides throwing myself out of my chair,” she said.
Page-Smith hopes to have some money left over to renovate her kitchen.
“My kitchen is not accessible at all,” she said. “The countertops are higher than a standard counter top. It’s really hard on my arms and my shoulders and there’s very little cupboard space I can access easily.”
Finances have been the biggest hurdle for Page-Smith, especially having four children.
“I’m only working part time so I’m still at home to raise them,” she said. “We really just have to put a lot of this on the backburner, which takes a toll. I can’t repay the dollars back, but I’ve promised to pay it forward in any way I can by being involved and having my family involved in the community.”
Tickets to attend the Fall Chair-ity Fun-raiser cost $10 and are available at One on One Hair Studio, The Stop Coffee House and Gathering Place and Coyote Moon Cantina and Espresso Bar.
Donations can also be made to Page-Smith at http://www.gofundme.com/Ramp-Up-Quinns-New-Wheels
