They sat in the car and cried for 20 minutes.

In January of 2017, David Hartrick and his wife, Mary Grace, had just received David’s official diagnosis after months of tests and doctor visits: ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

Up to this point, David’s mobility had already severely diminished. An avid outdoorsman, he knew that the year following his diagnosis would most likely be his last to hunt, fish, and enjoy the outdoors.

When the shock wore off, David made a resolution:

“I’m going to live what time I have left on my terms.” He refused to be defined by ALS. He would still do the things he loved… but how?

How do you fish when your wheelchair can’t get close enough to the water?

How do you hunt when you’re stuck on the pavement?

How do you hike when you can’t climb rocky dirt paths?

The answer was track chair. An all-terrain tank with a chair on top. Literally.

But the $20,000 price tag was way out of reach, and insurance wouldn’t pay for it. And there was another problem: what would happen to the chair when the day inevitably came that David couldn’t use it anymore?

David had a vision: he wanted others to be able to use the chair too. He reached out to a friend and now CEO of David’s Chair Steve Furst. Together, they had a light bulb moment that would solve the problem of the cost of the chair, while also giving other mobility-impaired people a chance at independence.

Along with the help of many other incredible friends, they held a fundraiser and raised enough money to purchase the Action Track Chair.

And on June 29th, 2017 David’s Chair was born.

David passed away on January 11, 2018, just 11 months after his ALS diagnosis.

But David’s Chair continues to give the gift of independence to people with ALS and other mobility challenges.

Both David’s original Action Trackchair and our newer youth-sized Trackchair have been used by people with mobility challenges to go places and experience freedom they haven’t been able to, free of charge.

Because of donations given by grants, sponsors, and generous individuals, David’s Chair has taken people and their families on exciting outdoor excursions at locations that are inaccessible to regular wheelchairs.

Will you help us to continue David’s legacy and give people back their independence?