‘There’s a piece of me that’s gone’
T.J. Cickello needs a sport wheelchair to play basketball again
There’s something inexplicably irresistible about bouncing a ball.
That’s why you might find 22-year-old T.J. Cickello in the aisle of a department store’s sports section, dribbling a few of the basketballs. Testing them out.
He owns a collection, too, some with autographs of notable professional players.
He’s had an attraction to anything round that will ricochet off a solid surface since he could walk.
“Every time I dribble, I feel calm and a sense of control,” he says.
Walking was never easy for T.J. Born with cerebral palsy, T.J. has faced multiple surgeries, leg braces and injections of Botox, to relax, stretch and lengthen his leg muscles to improve his gait and make walking easier.
When he was eight years old, he played his first game of wheelchair basketball.
His dream is to compete in the Paralympic Games.
Only, he hasn’t played in more than a year because he outgrew the wheelchair he’s had since he was 12.
A new wheelchair costs more than $6,000; money he doesn’t have.
Both T.J. and his mother, Camille, live on the Ontario Disability Support Program.
Six days a week, T.J. works out at the Fit4Less gym in St. Catharines. When staff heard about his dilemma, they started up a GoFundMe page for T.J. To date, $1,420 has been raised.
He most recently played for the Burlington Vipers, a team of Wheelchair Basketball Canada. His previous wheelchair was funded by a charitable organization.
He had to quit playing at the end of the 2016 season, when he struggled to compete on a chair several sizes too small.
Sport wheelchairs are custom designed and feature sloped wheels for stability and quick turns and a lightweight frame. In his sights, is a Quickie Titanium All Court Sports wheelchair, fitted to his body shape and size.
Basketball is his world.
‘‘ When I play, I don’t think about anything other than what’s on the court.” T.J. Cickello Wheelchair athlete
In the gym at Kernahan Park Secondary School and St. Catharines Collegiate, he’d spend hours taking hoop shots.
He’s played for the Brock Penguins and he’s competed in the Ontario ParaSport games, where teams of the top players in the province compete against each other.
He has a gold, silver and bronze medal.
He played power forward for the Vipers, where he was good at grabbing rebounds.
“People don’t realize how incredibly physical it is,” he says.
“When I play, I don’t think about anything other than what’s on the court.”
His mother says they’ve explored all sources of grants, donations and programs to get T.J. a wheelchair. Many organizations will only fund equipment for children, she says.
He fills time by volunteering with the St. Catharines Spartans lacrosse team, and he’s applied to the Ontario Student Assistance Program for funding to attend an information technology program at a college in Buffalo.
Until then, he waits.
“It feels like there’s a piece of me that’s gone,” he says.
“It’s like doing a puzzle and getting to the end and you’re missing one piece.”
For more information on the Let’s Help TJ Get a Wheelchair campaign, visit gofundme.com/
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