Wheels Up Guatemala was started in 2022 by Christopher Ore, after learning that his Guatemalan Spanish tutor’s wife (Beysi) was paralyzed by a gunman in Guatemala City, 10 years ago. Since then, Beysi had been in a bulky, heavy, wide wheelchair which was uncomfortable and prohibited her from visiting friends and family. The organization was founded when Christopher donated, and personally delivered a custom made wheelchair to Beysi in Guatemala City in May 2022. Christopher realized that, with the financial backing of clients, family, and friends, he could make custom wheelchairs a reality for other disabled Guatemalans.
On May 2, 2022, Christopher Ore delivered a new, fully customized Quickie Xenon2 wheelchair to Beysi, the wife of his Guatemalan Spanish tutor, Tomas Xon. The cost of these wheelchairs ($5,000+ in Guatemala) are way beyond reach of all but the wealthiest.
Prior to the Quickie wheelchair, Beysi was using a very rudimentary wheelchair for the past 10 years since she was paralyzed from her waist down by a gunman at an outdoor market near their home in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Beysi’s mother accompanied her, and was murdered by the gunman. The seemingly simple gift of a custom wheelchair to Beysi took months of planning, budgeting, and manufacturing. Beysi could not have been more grateful. Her son, Alejandro is a bit of a miracle child: Beysi was 3-months pregnant with Alejandro when she was shot and paralyzed.
“My wife was left in a condition of irreversible paraplegia due to an assault of which she was a victim since 2012 when she was shopping in a market in Guatemala City. Since then, life changed drastically for us and we had to adapt to the difficult situation of my wife remaining in a wheelchair all the time. In our case, my wife’s life changed because now she enjoys a light chair, very comfortable, quite suitable for small spaces and totally portable. The Quickie wheelchair donated by Wheels Up Guatemala allows her to move freely in our house, shopping centers and best of all, it has a very elegant design which has contributed to improving my wife’s self-esteem.”
Chapin Films (chapinfilms.com), the most elite videography firm in Guatemala, produced a video about Beysi, released July 18, 2022. The organization provided countless hours of photography and editing, at no charge to Wheels Up Guatemala.
Wheels Up Guatemala donated its 2nd custom wheelchair on July 8, 2022 to Yeison, who lives in an impoverished rural community in Guatemala.
Yeison is 6 years old and was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. He is a charming and articulate kindergartener. The family is Kakchiquel-speaking and very poor: his father earns around 50 quetzales a day (about $7 USD) when he has work as a farm worker. His Mom, Heidi, had a normal pregnancy (without prenatal care, as is common in rural communities in Guatemala), and was attended by a traditional midwife for Yeison’s birth.
Yeison has had spinal surgery and will need medical care for the rest of his life. For mobility he has relied exclusively on his mother to carry him everywhere. Since the arrival of his baby brother 10 months ago, Yeison’s grandmother has taken over some of the responsibility of carrying Yeison to school, medical appointments, etc. They have no car.
A physical therapist told the family they should obtain a walker for him, which was their original request. However, Yeison is unlikely ever to be able to walk more than a few steps independently, even with a walker, so a custom wheelchair was recommended instead. His Mom was reluctant at first, because her vision of mobility for Yeison was to see him upright, like “normal” people. However, when she saw on video how easily a child can move in a custom wheelchair, she changed her mind. Yeison was also super excited by the video and exclaimed, “I want one of those!”
Yeison’s dream is fulfilled: the wheelchair is being hand built in a small factory staffed exclusively by disabled men in Antigua, and Yeison is scheduled to receive it the first week of August 2022.
Efrain is a 39 year-old Guatemalan who was in a horrific car accident in Maryland approximately 20 years ago, while working in the United States. He was paralyzed from the waist down and has been in a wheelchair ever since. Irrespective, he has an enchanted life: he has a beautiful wife, as well as two sons, Matteo (12 years old) and Esteban (5 years old), and a daughter, Ana (4 years old).
For many years, Efrain has worked at Transiciones, which is a custom wheelchair factory in Antigua, Guatemala. There, he works side by side with 16 other disabled men, manufacturing approximately 200 wheelchairs per year, costing $500 – $600 each. He has a leadership role at the organization. He can be seen in the prior photo measuring Yeison for his wheelchair.
Efrain is also one of the key players on the Guatemalan National Wheelchair Basketball Team. This past summer, the Team hosted the Central American Wheelchair Basketball Title tournament. The Guatemalan home court was just constructed and painted in time for the tournament. The court is right next to the wheelchair factory.
Efrain uses a Quickie wheelchair, which was given to him by another member of the Team about 15 years ago. The wheelchair has suffered a lot of abuse over the years: the streets of Guatemala are often treacherous to navigate in a wheelchair, and the wheelchair has been omnipresent on just about every national basketball game over the years.
Wheels Up Guatemala originally intended to purchase a new wheelchair for Efrain, given the condition of the current one. However, the Mission of Wheels Up Guatemala is flexible, not rigid. When we inquired about what would help Efrain and his family the most, the answer was obvious to Efrain and his wife, Sandra (yet their humility required Yanilsa and I to coax the request from them). Their request? To help pay for the $1,300 annual tuition so that Matteo, their oldest son, could attend a local private school. There, he would be afforded the opportunity to learn English, and the instruction is far superior to the public school system.
Wheels Up Guatemala committed to the assistance for at least the first year, and presented the Efrain family with the first $500, in July 2022. Mom and Dad were astonished; Matteo was speechless. Wheels Up Guatemala contributed the balance of the tuition in November 2022. Classes begin in January 2023 at the new school.
Lesly lives in Gualan, which is a town in Zapaca, Guatemala. Zacapa is one of the poorest areas in the country and is situated about 3 hours to the northeast of Guatemala City.
Lesly contracted viral encephalitis about 2 months ago which has left her with secondary epilepsy and severe neurological damage, namely paralysis on one side of her body and inability to speak. Briefly, viral encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain caused by a viral infection, bacterial infection, autoimmune inflammation, or insect bites.
It is not clear how much Lesly can be expected to recover, how much she will be able to mobilize herself, and exactly what features will be needed in her chair, such as postural support, back angle, center of gravity, and seat width. One thing that is clear, however, is that Lesly definitely needs a wheelchair. Thankfully, if she recovers a substantial amount of function, the wheelchair can be modified later.
Lesly’s specialist has prescribed physical theory and anti-seizure medication, though it is doubtful that her family can afford either. In any event, the wheelchair will be a very significant improvement to Lesly’s life, and has been fully funded by Wheels Up Guatemala.
The photo is Lesly with her mom and the specialist (from an NGO) collecting information about Lesly’s condition. You can observe the wooden planks that make up their makeshift home.
At this point, Lesly’s mobility is limited to her mom’s strength in carrying her throughout the day, as needed. Information about Lesly’s family is scant. A local municipality sought assistance for the little girl, but provided little in the way of additional details.
Emerson is a 10-year-old from San Miguel Dueñas, which is about 2 hours from the capital (Guatemala City). He is small for his age, perhaps due to malnutrition.
No formal diagnosis has yet been made regarding Emerson, but he has lost strength in both legs, has limited coordination, and has lost sensation in his legs. We are waiting to get additional medical information, but his family is concerned that he is now paralyzed, as he cannot stand and has lost sensation in his legs. He also has problems with dexterity in his hands, struggling to hold a pencil, for example.
Thankfully, his mental abilities seem to be unaffected, but he is no longer able to attend school because he lacks mobility. His mom is doing what she can to teach him at home.
She has brought Emerson to a local health center, a private doctor, as well as to the attention of a visiting medical mission. None of these professionals have been able to discern what is wrong with Emerson. A couple people speculate that he may have polio, but these are just guesses.
As pictured, Emerson was using a plastic wheelchair which has been lent to him by a neighbor. A custom wheelchair was fabricated for him, and he received it in November 2022. This development would have been impossible without Sponsors of Wheels Up Guatemala.
From: San Andrés Itzapa, Chimaltenango
Cause of disability: spina bifida
Dulce was born with spina bifida and hospitalized for a month following reparative spinal surgery. She also had deformation of her lower limbs, a condition that often accompanies spina bifida. As a baby she had surgery to correct a club foot (without much success); in 2019 and 2022 she had operations for dislocated hips. She has pins in her hips which she is waiting to have removed so that she can receive physical therapy. All this medical treatment has been hard on Dulce and her family, but her mother Josefina says they have seen improvements in the little girl’s strength and mobility. She is able to stand upright for a few minutes but cannot walk. Her parents carry her wherever she had to go, which can be extremely tiring. For example, they carry her more than 4km to and from the school where she will start 1st grade this year. As she grows taller and heavier, this becomes less and less possible, jeopardising her ability to attend school.
Recently Dulce had the good fortune to meet Christopher Ore of Wheels Up Guatemala, who recognized the transformative difference that a wheelchair could make in her life. This week she and her mother visited Transiciones to be evaluated and receive a personalized Torbellino (Whirlwind) wheelchair, adjusted to suit Dulce’s size, disability and abilities. Dulce and her mother were both overjoyed to receive the wheelchair, which the family could never have afforded. Dulce immediately began to move around in the new chair – the first time in her life that she has had such freedom of movement. Her mother Josefina expressed the family’s gratitude to Transiciones for enabling Dulce’s mobility and independence – and for saving her parents the backache and fatigue involved in carrying her long distances to school!
