Lock'in lips eye to eye
He kissed her in a way she didn’t think would be possible again; he kissed her standing up.
Up until very recently, Cris Kriesel was only able to kiss her husband by bending down to his chair level. Her husband, Navy Veteran Charles ‘Charlie’ Kriesel, has spent the last eight years sitting in a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury. Kriesel has not been able to stand side-by-side with his kids nor his wife.
On Jan. 30, Minneapolis VA Physical Therapist Amber Wacek and Study Coordinator Alexandria Richardson, delivered the mobile manual standing wheelchair to Kriesel as part of his participation in an ongoing study on the utility of a standing manual wheelchair for Veterans with spinal cord injury and disorders. This study began in October 2021, and in total, a dozen Veterans will have participated when is ends in September. Kriesel is one of them.
It didn’t take long for Kriesel to learn the unique features of this wheelchair. He quickly adapted to its versatility as he maneuvered around the areas of his home. As he was acclimating himself with the new wheelchair, his family suddenly realized that he could stand up shoulder-to-shoulder with his family in photos.
Kriesel’s wife immediately urged her family to take a picture of them kissing. “Take a picture of us kissing!” Mrs. Cris Kriesel shouted. Then she looked up, finally able to tilt her face up towards his, and kissed her now tall husband. The couple embraced and held on to their sweet moment.
The RECOVER (Rehabilitation and Engineering Center for Optimizing Veteran Engagement and Reintegration) team at the Minneapolis VA routinely sees the positive impact that the mobile manual standing wheelchair has on the lives of Veteran wheelchair users.
Don’t forget to smooch that special someone in your life a little extra this Valentine’s Day!