TGA Wheelchair Powerpack empowers remarkable
Dr Lin MBE
Our wheelchair Powerpack customer Dr Lin Berwick is incredible. Inspirational. Words she’ll reject through modesty, but she is.
Lin has an MBE and an Honorary Doctorate; has helped raise over £2.5million for her charity and published six books about dealing with disability. All from a wheelchair. Cerebral palsy quadriplegia and being blind might be enough challenges in life for some, not Lin. She’s achieved so much but now 75, the time has come for a bit of help; that’s to keep mobile in a wheelchair that her carers can push. Her love of live classical music, touching her roses in the garden and dining out need to carry on. And so they do with a TGA Powerpack.
Lin’s life has been remarkable. Full of achievement. Born in the East End of London and now living in Sudbury, Suffolk, she worked her way through the ranks of switchboard operation at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in the City of London. She was trained by the RNIB and then became the teacher herself. After 13 years she sought a new challenge – to set up a Trust to help disabled families and their carers. The Lin Berwick Trust was formed which built accessible self-catering holiday homes as Lin and her husband knew all about disability. Losing her husband to Parkinson’s 14 years ago was tough but Lin remains unstoppable to this day; helped by the powered wheel under her wheelchair. A simple solution that makes a big difference.
“Basically my Powerpack has given me my life back,” says Lin. “My carers are not struggling anymore. I’ve had funding from the Martineau Care Fund in Sudbury to help me purchase it. As a person with disabilities who uses a wheelchair, this has been transformation in terms of my mobility as it helps my carers push me wherever I want to go. I am now able to go out to a concert or place of interest with relative ease.”
“My great love is classical music. Anywhere there is good quality music I’m there! I particularly love choral music. I used to play the flute and achieved two qualifications from the Royal Academy of Music. I’ve got good stereo systems at home but there’s nothing like hearing the real thing. Live music is fantastic, especially at places such as Saffron Hall in Saffron Walden and when I can get there, the Royal Albert Hall or the Barbican.”
It’s not just special outings where Lin’s Powerpack excels, it’s everyday too. Moving around her home, getting in the car and going out in the country are much easier. “There is a powered wheel which enables it to be supportive when going over uneven ground,” continues Lin. “I have also taken it on some sloped grounds which has been helpful for my carers pushing me up and down hills. I have found it incredibly helpful going around my garden as it has enabled me to touch and smell my roses. I’ve got quite a large wheelchair and we used to have lots of difficulties getting it in and out of the car. Now I have a Powerpack the carers can hoist my wheelchair and I straight into the car. I particularly like going to nice restaurants like the Mill Hotel in Sudbury.
So all-in-all, Lin is TGA’s number one Powerpack fan. She loves it. And so, she wants to let other people know about it who are struggling to push a wheelchair. Lin concludes by saying: “It is much better all-around for general support to the carer and well worth purchasing. It will transform life for the carer. And I know from what other owners have said and what I have experienced it enhances anyone’s life who uses it. So, I want to thoroughly recommend it to you.”
