Vancouvercation

 It was only March of 2023, and this year has been going great. A care worker started working with me in August of last year. (the previous) And so far we have done several trips together and some cool stuff. My worker’s name is Hannah, a small-town farm girl from Manitoba, with a spitfire attitude.  

Me and Hannah at exploring Vancouver

Earlier in the month we had traveled all the way from BC all the way to Manitoba by car, and I got to meet her family. The Desrochers are some amazing people, who I consider extended family now. But this post is not about this trip, although I should write soon about my experiences at the Desrochers Farms.

My roommate (my Dad) bought me tickets to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert that was in Vancouver at the end of March. He bought the tickets for me because I already had tickets to see them in Seattle in 2022, however, a few days before I was to embark on that journey my care worker at the time got Covid so I had to cancel.

My friend Meaghan (yes, the same Meaghan from the Vegas trip) let me and Hannah crash at her place for the four days we were in Vancouver. Hannah and I had the place to ourselves as Meaghan was out of town. The first few days of the trip were me showing Hannah around Vancouver, as it was her first time there. We did a lot of food exploring and Shopping on 4th Avenue, two of my favorite things.

 If you are going to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the whole trip needs a little more spice. The day we arrived we had determined we would not be able to get my commode into the shower at Meaghans. And then on the morning of the third day, we were both having coffee and Hannah was looking at me, the commode, and then the shower when she said “You know, Kyle, I think we can do it.” I responded with “Do what?” Hannah replied “I think we can get the commode in the shower” I was unsure, but she seemed very confident, so I thought there was only one way to find out. Sometimes you got to F*ck around to find out. 

Hannah tipped my commode back and got my front tires over the lip of the shower, she then did a sort of catwalk to get my other tires in as well. It took a lot of effort on her part and she managed to get me in safely. She is always willing to try the hard way and that's what I love about her. Once I was fully in the shower I said to her “This is awesome…. But how are we going to get out?” She replied “F*ck, I hadn't thought that far ahead” Oh Hannah, bless her heart. I was able to fully wash up in the shower and then after Hannah tried to do the same catwalk only in reverse this time. I couldn't see exactly what happened. All I knew was that I felt a thump and then I fell way forward hitting my head on the wall of the shower. There was nothing else Hannah could do at that point to get me back up, so she had to undo the seatbelt that was holding me in the commode. I then ever so slowly slid out and down into the corner of the shower. Once I was no longer in it, Hannah was able to take out my commode and leave me in the shower while she went to retrieve my portable lift. When she came back into the bathroom with the lift, she started laughing hysterically and said “I know it's not funny right now, but Kyle, you look so vulnerable right.” She said this because I was curled in the fetal position on my knees, face down ass up in the corner of the shower. She then was able to flip me over and after a few seconds to catch our breath, we both just started laughing. 

This is where I wold insert a photo of the above situation, unfortunately I have a policy of not sharing my nudes.

After everything was said and done, the only thought I had in my mind was that this was going to make a great blog post, that is not where this post ends though. 

We still had to get to the RHCP concert later that night. As the concert was at BC Place in downtown Vancouver, I thought it would be the wiser move to take a cab there and back. That way we wouldn't have to deal with driving there, finding parking, and driving back through all the chaos with so many people. Hannah agreed with me, so we called a cab company and got a wheelchair taxi to come pick us up. Everything was going smoothly and we got to the concert. I had a blast. They really did put on a great show, I would say definitely in the top 3 concerts I've seen…and I've seen a lot.

After the phenomenal display of musical talent, Hannah and I exited the venue. We then called the same cab company that we used to get there, but they told us all of their cabs were currently being used, so we would have to wait for 3 hours for one to show up. So Hannah was sitting on a curb and I was beside her while she proceeded to call every single cab company in the Vancouver area. Guess what? Yes, Every cab company had wheelchair-accessible cabs but none were available at that time. They were more than happy to send a regular cab, but of course, that wouldn't work for me.

Over the next two hours, it was becoming more and more uncomfortable of a situation. Here we are in downtown Vancouver, nearing midnight with fewer and fewer people around as everyone is being picked up by cabs and limos. I was getting anxious realizing that Hannah is a small 21-year-old girl, and if anything were to happen realistically what am I going to do? 

After 3 hours of trying to find a way to get back to Maeghan’s place, Hannah and I were starting to lose all hope. To our relief, a limo driver stopped and he called out to us. He said he had passed us 3 times as he was picking up and dropping off other concertgoers. He had asked if we needed a lift however, his limo wasn’t wheelchair accessible. Hannah was explaining this to him, but he was pretty adamant, saying “No, no, we can just slide him in, just slide him in, I've helped out a lot of wheelchair people before”. English was clearly not his first language. Hannah and I had thoughts that this guy has clearly bit off more than he can chew, but what the hell, let's give it a shot…besides, what else were we going to do?

I was able to slide in, just like the driver had said, however, I wasn't able to slide into the seat as that is probably what he was thinking. I ended up lying on the floor of the limousine. At least I wasn't hurt or anything. The driver then took my wheelchair and strapped it into the trunk with a bungee cord. He was showing Hannah how to use the Bluetooth from her phone to the speakers in case we wanted to jam out to some music while I rolled around on the floor. When we arrived at Meaghan’s place, Hannah went inside to grab my portable lift. When she came out and proceeded to strap me in the sling to lift me out of the limo, the driver was blown away as he said he had never seen something like the lift before. I made sure to get a picture with him and I thanked him saying as unconventional as this was you have given me a memory I will never forget. 

Hanging out with my Savior, Manase!

The moral of the story is every city needs more wheelchair cabs, like a fleet of them. As I wouldn't want to see anybody else in that situation. A few days after we had gotten home, I decided to reach out to Global Okanagan and tell them about our little adventure. The piece was shown on Global Okanagan as well as Global BC. Let me give a shout-out to our limo driver that evening, Manase Majuerae. He is a great guy and I highly recommend booking a ride with him if you are ever in the Vancouver area… unless you are in a wheelchair.

If you are interested, here is the link to our piece on Global:

https://globalnews.ca/news/9620012/pair-left-stranded-vancouver-lack-wheelchair-accessible-cabs/