EVERETT — For Tania Finlayson, anything is possible.
Confined to a wheelchair her entire life with cerebral palsy, Finlayson today will start a 300-mile, four-day long trip driving her wheelchair from Everett to Oregon to raise $42,000 for Guide Dogs of America.
“Right now, I am feeling mostly excited,” she said in an email Friday. “We are busy with some last-minute preparations. But for the most part, the hay is in the barn. We have done pretty much everything we can to prepare for this journey.”
Finlayson, 44, of Kirkland, speaks through a computer system that she controls with her head, using Morse code.
Her voyage is being made possible in part by Machinist’s Union Local 751, and Paul Fishbach, a University of Washington biomedical electronics technician, who souped up her wheelchair, which she controls with her chin, to go the distance.
Together the team invented a way for Finlayson’s electric wheelchair to be powered by a generator that runs on gasoline, which she tows along. Otherwise she would have to stop every two hours to charge batteries.
Spare parts were donated by ATG Rehab, and as of Friday afternoon, almost $24,000 had been raised.
Finlayson said she has a long list of people to thank.
“I plan on detailing many of the heartwarming stories of the individuals who stepped up to make this happen after I am done with the run,” she said.
She’ll start her run from the Boeing Everett Activity Center, 6098 36th Ave. W., as part of the union’s annual Flight for Sight fun run — a 5K and 10K run that is itself a fundraiser for Guide Dogs of America — then leave from the Flight for Sight’s finish line after the race.
Initially, she planned to leave from Seattle to Spokane. But the state did not approve her use of I-90. So to make the run the same length, she now will follow bicycle trails from Everett through Bothell to Issaquah, and then back through Kirkland and around Lake Washington on the Burke-Gilman Trail to the University of Washington campus.
From there she will follow the route of the annual Seattle-to-Portland bicycle tour into Oregon.
She will be accompanied by her husband, Ken, who will ride a bike. Her son, Michael, 7, and other family members will ride along in a motor home.
“Once we hit the road, I think Tania’s biggest challenge will be pacing herself,” said Ken Finlayson. “Tania tends to drive herself towards her goals head first. We will have to work hard to make sure that Tania is keeping herself hydrated, and fed.”
Through this 300-mile wheelchair trip, Tania Finlayson, who also skydives, hopes people might try to look a little deeper within themselves and to try to figure out what they can do.
“In my life, it would be easy for me to focus on my disabilities, and proclaim that I am not able to do this or that because I can’t control my arms and legs, and I cannot speak. But, when I focus on the things that I can do, it’s clear I have good use of my head, and chin, I have good hearing, I have good vision. I am surrounded by people willing and eager to help me,” she said. “Put these things together, and a 300-mile journey becomes trivial. If I focus on my disabilities, it’s impossible.”
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