MY STORY

          It all started when I was a freshman in high school and one of my projects for English class was an assignment to do something you have always wanted to do but you never followed through with doing it. Well I wanted to build a log cabin but that wasn’t reality living in Naperville, IL.  So, I had another idea, I had been playing hockey for 10 years and had a bunch of broken and used hockey sticks that I had saved over the years, and had always wanted to make something out of them.  My Dad being a trim carpenter ever since I was born I was in to building things out of wood. I had heard about, a couple different chairs made out of hockey sticks but never saw a picture of one, so that was something I  had wanted to try.  I chose to build an Adirondack style chair out of my old hockey sticks.  It turned out amazing and of course I got an A on that project, everyone who had seen the chair thought it was the coolest chair they have ever seen and wanted one. About 6 months later I made another one for my cousin with his old hockey sticks that turned out even better because he was in college I knew it would be well used so I made some reinforcements to the frame for durability and comfort.  Now I felt I had perfected my design.  That was the last chair I made for a while.

          People who would see a picture of the chair or saw it in real life wanted to pay me to build one for them.  Unfortunately, I never had time with my busy hockey schedule, being in school, and having a job. It was also hard finding a supplier of hockey sticks to build the chairs with because it requires about thirty sticks to make one and not everyone has enough for their own chair so as much as the chair I built for myself was made all of my own sticks my cousins was built with is old sticks as well as some new hockey sticks.  

          Then on January 7, 2007 my life changed. I had just moved to Eagle River, Wisconsin from Naperville, Illinois to play hockey for the high school, fish, hunt, and be in the great outdoors. I was 16 at the time and I felt like I was living my dream of being able to do all the things I love to do. Coming home from ice-fishing, on January 7, 2007, I hit black-ice and my life, as I knew it, changed. From the moment my jeep stopped spinning and flipping I couldn’t feel my legs. My back was broke with a complete spinal cord injury at T-11 in my spine and I am now paralyzed for my waist down. The doctors put 2 rods, 10 screws, and fused some of my hip bones to hold everything together.

          I was in hospitals and rehabilitation in Colorado for three months and had to learn a lot of things I never thought I would have to know. I moved back to Wisconsin in April of 2007 to back in the place I love to be and get back to things. It really stinks sometimes because some things are harder to figure out being in a wheelchair but, hey I’m still here. Sometimes it just takes a lot patience, time, and effort to be able to do things I am passionate about because it’s worth it I will do anything to make things work for me. I drive a car, wake board, snow ski, fish, mostly for musky, hunt and anything else I am able to get my hands on.

          After I graduated high school, I started going to college and it just wasn’t for me, but I never liked school to begin with.  One of the main reasons I tried college was because I was in a wheelchair now and I couldn’t be working construction like I always wanted to.  I really missed being a carpenter.  I had always been passionate about designing, building and creating things out of wood.  I moved back home and got back into construction with my Dad in whatever way I could.  We built a set of custom kitchen cabinets and hand milled our own window trim for a home.  It was awesome to be back working with wood.  With everything else in my life that I am forced to deal with working as a carpenter again brought me such peace in my life.  I needed something to keep me busy and put money in my pocket.  Living in a small town, in a wheelchair, it’s not easy to find a cool job that you would actually enjoy.  It’s actually hard to find a rewarding job for a lot of people in wheelchairs.  So I needed to create one for myself.  I started to create work stations and purchase some tools that work better for me in my sitting position. I started designing and building again so “Chair Built Custom Woodworking” was created because everything is built from my wheelchair.  I went back to building things out of hockey sticks which always remind me of the sport I love so much. I designed a new style of boards for playing bags game and I also have making custom color musky bucktails which have been working great.  I have built a desk with hockey sticks, a cool gun rack for a customer and just about any idea you have I can create.  I’m nineteen years old now and have a big life ahead of me.  Making “Chair Built Custom Woodworking” a successful business is my focus now.  I have a creative mind and a great knowledge of woodworking. I am always coming up with new ideas and can make anything that you may have in mind. I always love new challenges.