PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — With warm weather finally here, Mike Chasse is enjoying getting around with his modern motorized wheelchair and looking forward to outings on a new off-road, tracked wheelchair known as the Ripchair.
Chasse, who has lived as a quadriplegic since a 2007 ski accident, was spending a sunny Tuesday afternoon mostly outside, visiting people and places around Presque Isle in his relatively new wheelchair that was made possible with a community fundraiser last year.
As the weather improves, Chasse also will be spending time in his new Ripchair, a “ruggedized” off-road wheelchair with tracks that he was able to purchase in addition to the new wheelchair thanks to the more than $27,000 raised by friends, family and community members.
“I’ve been thinking about having one of these for two or three years since I first learned about it,” Chasse said of the Ripchair, made by Howe and Howe Technologies in Waterboro.
“I’d saved quite a bit, but I’d always fought with myself over how much it cost. After a fundraiser brought in far more than needed for his new wheelchair, everybody was telling me, just get that thing. It wouldn’t have happened if not for that.”
Mike Chasse of Presque Isle tries out his new Ripchair at Bigrock Mountain on April 22 during the ski area’s last day of the 2018 season. (Courtesy of Big Rock Mountain)
Now, Chasse is equipped with a new motorized wheelchair for everyday use — with a battery range of 15 to 20 miles and enough durability to travel on modest off-road trails — as well as the Ripchair for true off-road outings.
“There’s all these places that I’ve been to my whole life that I haven’t been to in the last 12 years, whether it’s the top of Bigrock or Aroostook State Park or fishing off the river,” Chasse said, adding that he’ll also be able to join his young niece and nephew on outdoors activities.
Chasse, who is an electrical engineer and Presque Isle City Councillor, said he still wants to make a few customizations to the Ripchair, but is overall impressed with the design and construction. Chasse is paralyzed from his armpits down and has some use of his arms and hands, and wants to tweak at least one part on the Ripchair to rotate automatically so he can get in and out of it completely on his own.
The vehicle, which is being registered as an ATV, is similar in many ways to a skid-steer loader, though made of light-weight aluminum.
Originally conceived by Howe and Howe as a vehicle for disabled veterans, the Ripchair is gaining traction among other people with mobility limitations and Chasse said he first learned of it on the Discovery Channel.
Chasse said he’s grateful for the outpouring of community support that helped him afford both a new wheelchair and the Ripchair.
In February 2017, Chasse chronicled on his blog Quodomated the ordeal he faced with Medicare insurance trying to replace his former wheelchair. The process was not only byzantine, but full of restrictions that Chasse said don’t meet the needs of young and active disabled people.
Medicare agreed to only cover a basic replacement wheelchair, not the newer model that he tried out and that was “the best chair for someone in my situation,” with a top speed of 7.5 miles per hour and advanced suspension.
“They kind of group everyone together whether you’re a 95-year-old in a nursing home or an active 35-year-old that drives his wheelchair 20 miles a day,” Chasse said. “The wheelchairs that they would provide would go only 5 miles an hour, had a much smaller battery, and had no off-road capability.”
In March 2017, more than 200 people surprised Chasse at Presque Isle High School, where he thought he was going to speaking on a panel conference about bullying prevention and overcoming disability. Instead, friends had organized a community fundraiser and a surprise celebration to present the proceeds from the secret fundraiser.
“I’ve never been so impacted and felt so much love for my community,” Chasse said.
“When you’re in a wheelchair or have a disability for long enough, you sometimes kind of submit and write those things off, he said. “Now, I’ve got this big list of things I want to do and places I want to go back to.”
