Powerchair + Truck = one fast ride + a whole lotta fame

Strapples · Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:04 am Post subject:

ALAMO TOWNSHIP -- His wild wheelchair ride in June brought Ben Carpenter instant fame and the kind of attention usually reserved for rock stars and athletes. It also made for a year the Carpenter family will never forget.

``Everything for the most part has pretty much died down with Ben and the crazy ride, though he's gotten pretty used to being called `the wheelchair guy,''' said Carpenter's father, Don. ``People who know Ben still bring it up when they see them.''

Ben Carpenter, 21, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, became an instant celebrity on June 6 when his wheelchair handles became lodged in the grille of a tractor-semitrailer. The semi hit the wheelchair as Carpenter was trying to cross Red Arrow Highway at Hazen Street in Paw Paw. For two miles, Carpenter held on for life while the chair and truck reached speeds of up to 50 mph. The semi eventually pulled into a trucking facility, where the driver discovered his passenger and the wheelchair still lodged by its handles in the truck's grille.

Don Carpenter said he underestimated the attention the incident would attract.

``My gosh, we counted more than 200 calls; the phone was ringing from radio stations and newspapers all over the world. ... We never did get back to all of them,'' he said.

Representatives from ``Late Show with David Letterman'' called, but an opportunity for Ben to appear on the TV program never materialized. He did, however, go with his dad to see members from the reality-TV show ``American Choppers.'' Carpenter said he and his son were given VIP privileges and that the show's cast autographed his son's shirt.

Don Carpenter said the story appealed to many because his son lived to tell about it.

``The circumstances were unusual to begin with,'' he said. ``I mean, you have a potentially fatal situation that Ben survived and lived to talk about, so it had a happy ending, and people like a happy ending.''

He said officials of Ohio-based Invacare Corp., maker of the wheelchair in which Ben was riding, have been in contact with the family about providing a new wheelchair. In exchange, Don Carpenter said, Invacare would like to put Ben's current wheelchair on display at the company's headquarters in Elyria, west of Cleveland.

Meanwhile, Ben's mother, Joyce, has assembled a scrapbook of the newspaper articles, letters, cards and correspondences generated by the incident. The title on the book's cover? ``Ben's Wild Ride.''

congrats ben... your getting a new wheelchair from invacare... hmm... now i have to go to Elyra Ohio.... he he he... going to Invacare HQ would be like going to the worlds biggest toy store for me he he he...
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