Sea change
RTE show’s inventors design special chair so that paralysed David can swim independently in Atlantic
A FARMER paralysed in a tractor accident has got a new lease of life by sea swimming.
Thanks to RTE show Big Life Fix – where Irish inventors find everyday solutions for extraordinary people – Galway man David Tarpey can now go for a dip independently.
David, an agricultural consultant, has been a wheelchair user since the incident on his farm in 2004.
Recalling the incident, David, who lives in Oranmore, Co Galway, with wife Lucille and daughter Maria, said: “The tractor jumped forward and the back wheel caught me and crunched me and threw me out. There wasn’t another mark on me, apart from that.”
His life changed since but one passion was not denied to him – Atlantic swimming.
David parks his wheelchair on the pier and diving beneath the waves where he feels completely free.
He said: “You could drop me in the Ocean and I can do a little flip and be like a dolphin.”
David’s moving journey features in tonight’s Big Life Fix on RTE One, where we see him emerging from the water a new man, saying: “I feel great, as good as I’ve felt all day – the best part of my day.
Whatever it is about the sea and the therapeutic effect. I can do a little flip DAVID TARPEY ON RTE’S BIG LIFE FIX
Boundaries
“Whatever it is about the sea, it’s the sea water and the therapeutic effect of the sea. There are no boundaries in the sea.
“In the pool you have to turn every 20 metres or if it’s busy you’re running into someone else. A third of my body is active the other two thirds is not.
“All the muscle is gone out of it, so it’s a benefit in the water because the rest of my body is more like fat and high water content so that means I can float a lot easier.”
David had needed Maria to help transfer him from the car into a heavy 15-year-old rusty shower chair she used to wheel him into the water.
She said: “It is like a burden bringing the chair down and you have to plan it before you go.
“To do it by himself – that’s what his main thing is. It does the job but it’s a two-man job.”
Designer Lorna Ross spent time with David getting to know his swimming routines before heading back to the workshop.
The Big Life Fix built a foldable, super light, waterproof wheelchair made of carbon fibre – a material used on sails and boats.
It’s tailored to David’s height and weight with a rope for stability, allowing David to get into the chair on his own, and glide into the water.
We wanted to make it so he didn’t have to ask for help. The perfect fix LORNA ROSS DESIGNER ON BIG LIFE FIX
Lorna said: “We wanted to make it so that he didn’t have to ask for help, people just intuitively knew how to help.
“It’s so simple and fluid. I think it’s the perfect fix.”
Lorna and the team were worried about David swimming alone so invited a local club to join him and he is now no longer reliant on Maria to take him to the water.
She added: “They [the club] swim almost every day and he swims infrequently as it was such a lot of work.
“The fix is all about moving all the friction and I think he’s more likely to do it more frequently.” As well as his new swimming chair, now David has a whole new set of swimming pals too. And plenty of hot tea, buns and biscuits on the pier-side when he’s back on dry land.
Big Life Fix features a group of leading designers, engineers, compute programmers and technology experts to create inventions to transform lives.
David’s story features tonight at 9.35pm on RTE One and can also be viewed on the RTE Player.