Kristin Neva reflects on life with ALS alongside her husband, Todd, by sharing their experiences with accessible vans. She discusses the challenges of finding the right fit, the lessons learned over the years, and how adapting to change has shaped both their daily routines and cherished family memories.
Transcript
Hi, I’m Kristin Neva. I write the Joyful Sorrow column for ALS News Today, and I’m going to show you our rear-entry accessible van.
We got this van in 2014, right after my husband Todd got his wheelchair. At the time, we didn’t have a mobility dealer near us because we live way up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
And so we looked online and we decided to go with a rear-entry van, which was the cheapest option. So at the time, ten years ago, this van was $9,000 for the conversion, plus the cost of the van, which was, I think, $17,000 or so; $26,000 for this van, but that was over 10 years ago.
And I flew down to Kentucky, and the company met me at the airport. And I drove it home to Michigan, and we were happy with it. Fortunately, Todd’s wheelchair fit in it. It would be a good thing if you can go to the mobility dealer with the person who’s in the chair, with their chair, and make sure everything fits, because it’s actually pretty close. For example, Todd’s head doesn’t have much clearance. He can’t really tilt back, he has to be sitting upright in the van.
At this stage of the disease, it would be nice if he could tilt back because his neck is so weak. And so, we could have benefited from a different option, at the time, we weren’t there. This served us well for quite a few years.
But they also make rear-entry longer cuts. So we have the short cut, but then they also have a cut that goes up in between the middle seats. And they make those seats shorter on either either side, and the person has more room to recline back.
You can even add a fold-down bench behind the person in the chair for additional seating. And that would, I think at the time, have been about $15,000 for the long conversion, rather than the short one we got.
Another option, our friends, they had a side-entry van. That wouldn’t have worked for us initially because Todd got a front-wheel drive wheelchair. Again, the importance of trying your wheelchair with the van. Because when he tried to drive into our friend’s side-entry, he really didn’t have room to turn because he got the front-wheel drive to be able to navigate our country landscape and our yard and whatnot in his wheelchair.
A mid-drive wheelchair, on the other hand, is better for sidewalks and has a tighter turning radius. Our friend could just drive in and turn in a small area.
The disadvantage of the rear-entry short cut like we have is that the person sits way in the back. But you do have more seating. If we had to do it again today, I’m not sure what we would do. We’re at a different life stage, with our kids being older and able to drive, so we wouldn’t necessarily need to ride all in one vehicle.
But 11 years ago, we got a lot of use out of it. When we went places, the kids each had room for a friend. We made good memories in this van, and it served us well over the years.
Today, we’d probably also get an all-wheel-drive vehicle. We just saw that they make them. Toyota makes a van with electric power to the rear wheels, which wasn’t an option when we were looking. Because in our snowy climate in Michigan, we have over 200 inches of snow every year.
And it’s hard to get around on our country roads without all-wheel drive. This van would get hung up, and we could have used a little more oomph. There were days Todd stayed in and missed kids’ events because of the snow, which you kind of have to do without all-wheel drive.
That’s where we’re at. Hopefully this helps you make a decision if you’re shopping for a vehicle.
