Photo: Caddo Hills School District
High school student Brandon Qualls can now make it through his senior year a little easier thanks to his friend, who surprised him with a motorized wheelchair after saving up for two years.
According toTHV11, Wilson — a student at Caddo Hills High School in Arkansas — has used a manual wheelchair to steer through campus for years, but it was beginning to take its toll as he traveled from class to class.
“My arms would get really tired,” Qualls told the news station. “I would have to stop and take rests.”
While Qualls didn’t know it, his good friend, Tanner Wilson, was hard at work to lend him a helping hand. Wilson spent two years at his part-time job at a mechanic shop to save up enough money to buy Qualls a motorized wheelchair, which can often cost hundreds of dollars.
“I wanted to do him a favor,” Wilson said. “I just felt like I needed to do it and I wanted to do it… Brandon, he’s just always been there for me.”
Wilson recently fulfilled his goal and purchased the wheelchair off of Facebook, and surprised Qualls with it in front of their classmates on February 26.
“They came in and my face just blew up,” Qualls toldNews9. “I was just crying everywhere. I was like, ‘Wow I can’t believe he did that for me.’ ”
“It’s been my dream to just have one of these,” he continued. “And my dream came true.”
Wilson’s mother, Colleen Carmack, toldCNNthat she was not surprised that her son would do that for Qualls, since the two have been friends for a long time and have bonded over their loves of cars and trucks.
Because Qualls’ family does not have a vehicle that can transport a wheelchair of that size, Carmack explained, it will stay at the school until they are able to use one.
While Qualls may still be getting used to his new wheels, he and his arms are loving it so far.
“It’s awesome,” he told News9. “I may hit a few doors, but it’s worth it.”
“There’s many people out here that have troubles and need a little bit of help,” he told THV11. “Sometimes they can’t do it for themselves.”
He added toKARK: “I feel like life is a little too short to, you know, be judging everybody and you should think more of others than just yourself.”
Wilson said his classmates have asked him many times if it was worth the time and effort to buy the wheelchair for his friend, and there’s no doubt in his mind what the answer is to that.
“Yeah,” hesaid. “100 percent.”
source: people.com
