Help expand Azzie's world by powering up his wheelchair

Azzie has been in a wheelchair since he was three. At that tender age of running around freely, he started started falling over and the outcome after many years of operations and various prognoses, was that he had Giant Azonal Neuropathy. This is a very rare degenerative motor neurone disease, and Azzie has the dubious distinction of being the only person in New Zealand to have this diagnosis.

He is a strong young man and has been living in Whitianga for a year in a nicely situated downstairs apartment, about 2.5 kilometres from the Whitianga town centre. Azzie is a mild-mannered young man and speaks resonantly. His daily activities are limited because mobility in his wheelchair relies solely on the strength of his arms. The wheelchair is provided by the Ministry of Health and the obligation of the Ministry is to provide for mobility only around the home. It does not cover mobility to have a life outside the home. If Azzie had been in an accident, he would be an ACC beneficiary, entitled to an electric wheelchair, but that is simply not the case. Azzie is 32, with a good mind and a desire to join a club or two and be able to get himself downtown and be independent. Though he is strong and works hard to keep fit, it is exhausting and distressing to push himself the 2.5 kilometre journey to town. It means he stays home a lot and limits his life to what he can do, using his arms to push himself in his wheelchair.

Ref. Article in Mercury Bay Informer, Tuesday 22nd November