Darlington County man starts nonprofit after freak accident
DARLINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) – A Darlington County man continues to make an impact on hundreds across the state after a freak accident in 2020.
This 29-year-old man started the nonprofit “Waymaker Off-road Wheelchairs”, after his accident.
After accidentally getting shot in the side, Jacob Beisecker was paralyzed from the waist down. He spent a month in the ICU and five months recovering.
Beisecker said it was during this time that he was first introduced to the “Action Track chair.” He said the Action Track chair is a $15,000 off-road wheelchair, being a financial burden to him along with others.
He found out he wasn’t the only one having difficulty navigating around.
“After we had probably the fourth or fifth conversation that way, I just came home to my wife and told her, I was like what if we just started loaning out my personal chair just even the few that we’ve met around Hartsville even,” Beisecker said.
Beisecker said funding through his GoFundMe account sparked the idea of starting his own non-profit. Waymaker Off-road Wheelchair is now 100% donor funded.
“Within the first month we had another chair, a couple months later we had another chair so it just kind of spiraled from there,” he said.
Beisecker said almost 1,000 people around South Carolina have been users.
“By the end of last year, which was year 2 for us, we had over 650 people use the chair last year and we had 19 chairs by the end of the year, now we’re up to 21 and over a hundred and something have used it so far this year,” he said.
Beisecker said he has had people use the off-road wheelchairs for hunting, hiking, and fishing and even weddings. He says about 70% of users request it for their beach vacations.
He said their goal is to have at least one chair at each of the state parks. Beisecker said that as of May 1, nine of them will have one chair available, including both of the Grand Strand state parks.
You can borrow the chairs for between three and seven days.
“Being able to kind of have that first-hand experience and being able to talk through those things and sympathize I guess, with other people,” Beisecker said. “It’s been, just as much healing and helpful for me as it has been for some of the people I’ve come into contact with, which has been cool.”
Beisecker said it’s free of charge for anyone who needs to rent out the off-road wheelchair. He said he doesn’t want anyone’s financial status to impact their mobile ability.
You can donate to the non-profit or rent one for you or a loved one here.
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Jackie LiBrizzi is a multimedia journalist at News13. Jackie is originally from Hamilton, New Jersey, and was raised in Piedmont, South Carolina. Jackie joined the News13 team in June 2023 after she graduated as a student-athlete from the University of South Carolina in May 2023. Follow Jackie on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and read more of her work here.
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