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player ready...T. Anthony Welch has one message for the person who stole his wheelchair from the parking garage of his apartment complex in Arlington Heights.
“I have no malice,” said Welch, 48, who lost the use of his legs in a car accident almost eight years ago. “I understand you thought you had something that was good. Just bring it back, OK?”
Welch’s custom-built wheelchair, valued at $2,800, was stolen from his designated parking space at his apartment complex in the 0-99 block of Vail Avenue in Arlington Heights.
Welch left the wheelchair in the garage, knowing he would not be exiting his car while he ran an errand to a nearby drive-through pharmacy. It was easier that way, he said, because getting a wheelchair into a car can be a pain, especially in winter. For Welch, it means removing all four wheels, collapsing the chair, cleaning snow off the tires then trying to situate the chair inside his auto.
Welch said he was not overly concerned someone would take it, because he felt secure about the neighborhood. Just to be sure no one moved his wheelchair, he attached a note indicating whom it belonged to, with a message that reads, “Please do not move. I’m handicapped.”
Upon returning home from his errand, however, Welch discovered the wheelchair missing.
“I’m of the collective mind it’s stolen. No one’s heard anything. No one’s seen anything,” said Welch, a customer service representative for a department store chain. “It’s gone forever, and I have to suffer the consequences until I can get a new one.”
And he is suffering the consequences. Welch cannot go to work. And although he has a spare chair, he said, it is decrepit and not safe to go very far; the wheels keep falling off.
Welch said that his stolen wheelchair is likely covered by his insurance but that it will take at least six weeks for him to get a suitable replacement.
“They don’t fit everyone. It’s made for my height, width,” said Welch, 48, who recently moved from Kentucky to Arlington Heights to be near his girlfriend. “A wheelchair isn’t like a bicycle. You can’t just take them off a rack. It takes weeks or months to order.
“I’m feeling more confined now than I did prior.”
Welch is offering a reward for the safe return of his wheelchair. He described it as teal with black sponge hand grips. The brand name, Quickie, is written on the back.
And if he gets it back?
“I’m taking it wherever I go.”