GILES COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — For a lot of people who need wheelchairs, they're limited in where and what they can do. But a new nonprofit organization in Middle Tennessee, the American Mobility Project, is working to change that.
Hope Drake is an 18 year old living in Giles County on her family farm. She is a farm girl, through and through. "Ever since she was little, she was the one running around here on the farm, chasing the animals," said her mother, Kim Drake.
When she's not out tending to the horses, she's always out and about. "Tractors, trucks, anything that I could drive, I would do it. Living on the farm, I’ve grown up on it," said Hope.
That's only gotten a little easier in the last two weeks. For five years before that, it could be a challenge to get around at all.
"Typical morning, we were ready to play some softball," said Kim.
Back in 2015, the Drake family came home after a big win in softball and she celebrated by taking the four wheeler out into their pasture.
"Me and my brother [were] riding on the flat ground down there. He moved on the seat so I thought he was falling," explained Hope.
"Next thing I know, her friend comes running in and tells me she’s had an accident. So I run out and as soon as I come out the back door I see her laying, and I’m like, okay she’s in a weird position," recalled Kim.
When Hope shifted her weight, the ATV flipped and landed on top of her. Hope was airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where doctors discovered she had broken her spinal cord and was paralyzed from the waist down.
In so many ways, Kim felt like her Hope was lost. "It broke my heart, she couldn’t get up in the pasture, she couldn’t catch her horses when she wanted to," said Kim.
The Drake family started adjusting to this new normal. Then, about a year ago, a chance encounter with another man in a wheelchair changed everything.
"There was like an instant connection there with them. They were amazing with Hope and I told Hope, you know those are good people, they’re going to do things for people who are going to go far," said Kim.
That man was Gary Linfoot -- an Army veteran and suffers from parapalegia himself. Years ago, Linfoot was given a robotic wheelchair called the iBot.
Gary and his wife Mari decided to start a foundation called the American Mobility Project to pay his gift forward. They raise money to purchase robotic wheelchairs and other mobility equipment for others who need them too.
Hope was one of their very first recipients.
"It was in April when they called us and told us they had a generous donation made, that I was getting an iBOT. And it was, we [were] speechless and amazed," said Hope.
So they flew Hope and another teenager receiving an iBot wheelchair up to New Hampshire to receive their custom chairs and go through iBot boot camp. "We had to learn the different modes and what they could go on, the slopes they could go on," explained Hope.
After receiving a hero's welcome back at Nashville International Airport, Hope got to go back home on the farm and really put the iBot to the test.
The chair can go up stairs, through three inches of water, over rugged roots and steep hills, even at high speeds down her driveway.
She also no longer needs help to love on her horses. "Being able to brush them and feed them, it just feels like it was before my wreck," Hope said.
Hope's favorite function is the one that takes her to the next level. "Actually being able to feel that height again and not have people look down when I’m talking to them, it made it feel like I wasn’t in the chair anymore," she said.
With this new found freedom, sometimes it's still hard to find Hope. But that's not because of her spirit. It's because she's going all over her farm now that nothing is holding her back.
"I know with this iBOT she’s going to be able to do lots of things," said Kim.
"Now we know, no matter what it is, I will be able to get across it," said Hope.
Hope moved in this weekend to her dorm at Mississippi State where she's studying veterinary sciences.
The American Mobility Project is already selecting their next recipients for an iBot wheelchair. If you'd like to learn more about the program, visit their website: https://www.americanmobilityproject.org/
