Avantgarde 4 Family

Catherine from Buckinghamshire loves to stand out with bright colours to show her bubbly personality and sense of fun. She wanted a customisable wheelchair that could keep up with her social activities and enable her to live life to the full.

When Svenja was 19 years old she was involved in a serious traffic accident whilst cycling to work. It quickly became clear that she would need to use a wheelchair from then on, "I got used to the wheelchair very quickly, because for me the device was a way back to an independent life," Svenja says. Today, my Avantgarde and I are a good team, it goes everywhere in the car with me and is ready to use in no time when I reach my destination. Having a lightweight wheelchair that's easy to use is a great help, especially now that I'm often travelling." Svenja recently discovered wheelchair basketball and plays in the local regional league, she also loves animals and visiting a nearby stud farm. During visits she is not only accompanied by her boyfriend Andre but also by their Australian Shepherd, Barney too. Svenja also likes to travel and spend weekends with her family, and she is grateful to her parents and friends for their incredible support after her accident, "It's thanks to the support of so many lovely people, that I'm able to live such an independent life with my Avantgarde today."

Enes has had Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy, ever since he was a child. Despite this - or maybe because of it - he's a fighter, and everyday he's eager to prove just how much he can still achieve. His family supports him and gives him strength. Enes can sometimes come across as shy, but he's actually very courageous and inquisitive, "I laugh a lot, I love music and I'm always trying new things. When I was a child, I always wanted to be famous."

Enes leads a very active life despite being a wheelchair user, he regularly goes to the gym and enjoys nothing more than playing wheelchair football. He's grateful for his wheelchair because he sometimes tires easily due to his muscle weakness. Despite his limitations, Enes dreams of travelling to distant countries, "I'd love to travel to the US one day; that's been my dream ever since I was a child," he says.

Enes has the Avantgarde with swing-away leg supports as it flexibility adapts to his changing requirements.

Wanda was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2006. The diagnosis was unexpected for the mother of two, but it didn’t upend her life. “You have to accept the facts and learn to live with them!” Her family, her garden and origami are her passions. “Origami is the perfect link between an artistic activity and MS therapy. Folding the paper so precisely hones fine motor skills, and this has a positive effect on cognitive performance. Daily gardening with her husband offers a balance between physical and mental activities. Wanda’s symptoms have allowed her to remain active so far, but in recent years it has become more and more difficult to take part in trips, therapy or other activities without assistance from others. “On longer walks, there aren’t usually many suitable places to sit down.” Wanda’s first device was an anterior walker. She then discovered the Avantgarde DV.

Strength in the hands and arms is often lost first in people with MS, so the weight of the wheelchair is an important factor to consider, the lightest version of the Avantgarde DV weighs just 8.7 kg, making the wheelchair manoeuvrable and easy to drive.

“I’m happy that I did research on the available devices early on and wholeheartedly recommend anyone to do the same. I am still feeling fit, and learning to drive a wheelchair was a lot of fun. My husband even built a special training track for me. The Avantgarde DV is my perfect everyday device and will be for a long time to come, because it can be adapted to many different requirements.”

Wolfgang is a husband, banker and homeowner, he also serves as the chairperson of a wheelchair sports association in Munich during his spare time. Formerly an active sportsman, he now manages the association largely from the office. “When I was 17, I had an operation. It went wrong - so when I returned to secondary school, it was in a wheelchair. As one of five siblings, Wolfgang had a lot of support at home growing up. The only thing missing in Wolfgang’s day-today life was sports and his involvement in the wheelchair sports association offers a welcome change to his office work at a bank. Today Wolfgang is a firm fixture in his association as its chairman and a former active member. The variable Avantgarde DV supports Wolfgang’s extremely varied life in all respects.