Paraplegic Activist Loses Wheelchair In Near-Fatal Accident; Insurance Won't Cover New One

Rapper and activist Arthur Renowitzky lost his wheelchair, but saved his life.

Arthur Renowitzky is happy -- and lucky -- to be alive.

Again.

The 26-year-old San Lorenzo man became a motivational speaker after he was shot in 2007 and left paralyzed from the waist down.

The activist -- and sometime rapper -- had to watch the custom-made wheelchair he uses to get to multiple speaking engagements a week crushed by a wayward bus speeding down a narrow street in Los Angeles on Saturday, according to the Contra Costa Times.

He was in LA to speak at an anti-violence rally at UCLA. As he was leaving a friend's SUV and easing into his chair in the city's northeast side , a charter bus came barreling down his way.

He managed to throw himself out of the wheelchair in time to escape serious injury, but the bus demolished the chair, he told the newspaper.

The bus driver stopped, but gave Renowitzky fake information, including a phony name and a phony company, the newspaper reported. That means no insurance claim, and Renowitzky's medical insurance only covers a new chair every five years.

So instead of waiting until 2017, he's fundraising to replace the $4,500 custom chair, a necessary accessory to folks with spinal cord injuries, he said.

To learn more or donate, visit lifegoesonproject.org.
 

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