Success Stories

Peer Mentor and Share-A-Chair Program Founder Troy Plunkett

Troy PlunkettTroy Plunkett founded a nonprofit to support people with new spinal cord injuries in the California Bay Area and to ensure that no one ever had to feel as helpless and dependent as he did in the wake of his injury.

Registered Chair-ity

Before Plunkett became a T8-9 paraplegic because of a motocross accident in April 2003, he considered himself an independent person. Three weeks after rehab, sitting in a rented hospital wheelchair at his high school graduation, his perspective changed.

“I always go back to that moment of feeling so dependent, having to get pushed across the stage to get my diploma due to the wheelchair and not having enough function or strength to go up the ramp, down the ramp and across the grass to the stadium,” says Plunkett, 35. “That always stuck with me.”

He didn’t want anyone else to ever feel that way, so in 2015 he founded the SCI Active Network. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to connecting people with SCIs and their families with peer mentoring in the California Bay Area and empowering them to live active, independent lifestyles.

“We’re in the rehab centers from San Jose to Sacramento when people with new injuries are arriving — within a week or two of their injury at times. We’re meeting them day one, while also working with their therapists and family. We’re there to be a resource for them and to establish trust in those very early days,” says Plunkett. “That leads to so much more long-term success and connection.”

In May 2021, Troy rode an adaptive motocross bike with a protective roll cage — his first time back on a bike since his accident over 18 years ago.
In May 2021, Troy rode an adaptive motocross bike with a protective roll cage — his first time back on a bike since his accident over 18 years ago.

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Plunkett’s experience attending graduation in the ill-fitting rental chair inspired another SCI Active Network mainstay — the Share-A-Chair program. The program fixes and refurbishes manual wheelchairs donated by the Bay Area’s SCI community or purchased with donations. Anyone who applies and provides a $250 damage deposit can be fitted to a lightweight manual wheelchair at no additional cost and use it until their insurance provides them with a wheelchair of their own.

“Getting a hospital chair as a rental is like getting a Pinto instead of a Ferrari. It’s such a big difference, especially in the early stages of injury. Some of these people are paying for these rental chairs that are bulky, fold in half and can’t fit in a car trunk, limiting your transportation options. More than that, just getting around the house, from getting around your kitchen to getting into the bathroom and your bedroom can be tough,” says Plunkett.

The COVID-19 pandemic hampered the Share-A-Chair distribution efforts and SCI Active Network’s peer mentoring, but Plunkett was undeterred. He still delivered wheelchairs directly to homes and took time during lockdown to build a small warehouse in his backyard where he and his volunteers could store, refurbish, repair and rent out more wheelchairs.

“Also, as part of our mission to promote an active lifestyle, we host family-friendly events,” says Plunkett. “Obviously, with COVID we couldn’t do that, but as a chapter of United Spinal we’ve hosted support meetings in San Francisco and Berkeley every month that, in a non-COVID year, attract 20 to 25 people. Now, we try to replicate that energy on Zoom.”

In addition, just before COVID-19 hit, Plunkett received a grant from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation that will allow him to draw a salary for his work for the first time. He is excited about the future.

“The goals are keeping the salary and hiring some part-time people as well — mostly with disabilities — to repair and deliver these wheelchairs, but we’re probably a few years out from that. I want to be a pipeline for people getting back into the workforce after injury so they can be empowered to take on more responsibility again,” says Plunkett.

Wheelchair Repair and Maintenance 101

Share-A-Chair recipient Yousef Reed received a lightweight manual wheelchair and cushion to increase his mobility and independence.
Share-A-Chair recipient Yousef Reed received a lightweight manual wheelchair and cushion to increase his mobility and independence.

Plunkett’s plans to make a documentary about the Share-A-Chair program were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, but he pivoted to assemble an exciting new project to empower wheelchair users.

“My friend Joe Bello and I used part of the Donald A. Strauss Foundation scholarship he won to make a big video project about wheelchair maintenance and fitting that we will be launching on the SCI Active Network YouTube channel. It’s a library of 15 to 20 videos that are very specific on topics like changing tire tubes and adjusting wheelchair axles, brakes and footplates. We thought this was a great thing we could do to be able to reach a lot people we can’t reach in person. They’re very professionally done videos, very well edited and we will be releasing videos right up to our July presentation to United Spinal, telling them what SCI Active Network is about. Our goal is to educate those with SCIs, their families, caregivers and physical therapists on how to do these basic tasks for their loved one or themselves.”

I played for the 2017 Sacramento Rollin’ Kings and finished fourth in the nation at the NWBA championship division level.What have you gained by joining United Spinal?
Connecting with the other chapters nationwide to talk fundraising, upcoming programs and peer-mentoring. It’s huge for us.

One law related to disability you would changed?
Insurance companies don’t provide adequate adaptive equipment in a timely manner. We’re still having to fight for features that are necessary for everyday life.

What would surprise people about you?
I played for the 2017 Sacramento Rollin’ Kings and finished fourth in the nation at the NWBA championship division level.

Craziest thing you’ve done in a wheelchair?
I became the first paraplegic to adapt and row in an eight-person whale boat competing on a nondisabled co-ed team.