Sophie Conlon
BEVAN Kersley is riding his wheelchair around Australia, raising money in hopes of building a new specialised spinal rehabilitation centre in Queensland.
Since leaving Brisbane Spinal Life Australia on Wednesday, April 26, Mr Kersley has faced 69kph winds, rode through a swarm of bees and had some scooter troubles, but he still had a smile on his face as he made his way into Mount Gambier on Friday, May 12.
Mr Kersley was in a motorbike crash about 30 years ago which left him paralysed, but that could not keep him down and he now travels in a 150cc wheelchair scooter.
“It started as a scooter, and the guy that was making them, he’s turned it into a trike and made it easy that you can just wheel in and ride it like a motorbike,” he said.
After returning to the spinal unit at Princess Alexandra Hospital as a mentor Mr Kersley found not a lot had changed since he had gone through rehabilitation there, so he decided to travel around Australia in his adapted scooter to raise funds to help build a specialised spinal rehabilitation centre.
“They spend their whole rehabilitation, which could take anywhere from six months to two years, living in a hospital ward away from their families,” he said.
“I am hoping I can raise enough money to get this rehab centre off the ground where there will be accommodation for families as well as we can take the spinal patients out of the unit and that will free up space for more patients to come in, because there are 40 to 50 patients in different hospitals waiting to go through the spinal unit.”
“With a rehab centre they will be able to stay there with their families in the same rooms, after such a traumatic time the families need to learn about the new life and they need to know it’s only a bump in the road and you still have a life after being in a wheelchair.”
With a goal of making $1,000,000, Mr Kersley has raised just over $3000 and hopes his commitment will lead to government support of a new rehabilitation centre in his home state.
Mr Kersley said he had so far enjoyed his journey and was having fun getting out on the open road.
“The ride has been pretty good actually, the traffic’s been easy, there hasn’t been too much,” he said.
“A lot of people are giving us a ‘hi’ or a beep along the way, it was a little cool in Canberra though I don’t know why I went to Canberra.”
He said he was looking forward to exploring the Limestone Coast while he was in the area, and was excited about exploring one of Australia’s few wheelchair accessible caves in Tantanoola.
“We get to check out a few of the tourists spot at the same time, because I like to give people awareness of inclusive tourism,” he said.
“We like to travel the same as everyone else does, and it’s not just me, you can have other paraplegics, quadriplegics, and they’ve got family members that come along with them as well, and it also helps parents with prams and elderly people that use wheely walkers.
“The more tourism operators can make their business accessible and inclusive, the better it is going to be for everybody.”
You can follow Bevan’s journey and donate to his cause through his Facebook page, Miller Chase Foundation Ltd.