Anonymous donor replaces stolen wheelchair
By SUSAN JAY

  It looks like David Hassenpflug will have a sporty wheelchair to spin around in, while insurance agents work on replacing the one stolen last week.
  A Grants Pass man who builds and delivers portable livestock equipment has donated a black, racy-looking, lightweight wheel chair to Hassenpflug, said Chuck Knerr, owner of KCNA Radio. The radio station has picked up the chair and is waiting to deliver it.
  Hassenpflug, 29, is the father of two young boys and has multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease that causes degeneration of the central nervous system. He needs a wheel chair because nine months ago his condition worsened and he lost control of his legs.
  Last week, someone stole his "Quicky" chair out of his sister's Dodge Caravan in Medford. He has been using a loaner from Total Mobility, hoping his sister's home owner's insurance would pay for it as a replacement.
  Paperwork, however, was still pending when his sister Betti Jo Taylor called KCNA Wednesday and talked about the theft on Knerr's morning radio show. She was hoping someone had seen the chair or that the thief would feel guilty and return it, Knerr said.
  Instead, the Grants Pass man called, talked to Knerr and Taylor and explained that he had a light weight wheelchair that his brother-in-law had used but no longer needed.
  "It just sickened him that someone had stolen David's wheel chair," said Peter Maciel, a sales representative at the radio station who picked up the chair.
  Maciel said the donor wants to remain anonymous, and believes that people have a duty to help others in need.
  The man's brother-law had recovered from a stroke and no longer needed the wheelchair, Maciel said.
  If Hassenpflug does receive a new wheelchair from his sister's insurance, Maciel said the Grants Pass man wants the one he donated to go to someone else who needs it.
  "We hope the wheelchair will take on a life of its own and will go from one needy cause to another," Maciel said.

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