Carpentersville amputee who must drive with hands: 'It feels great' (and I won't be distracted by texting)
Henry Owens doesn't have his legs, and that may make him the safest driver on the road.
Or, so he jokes, now that he has learned to drive a specially outfitted van donated to his family after a parasailing accident last June that cost him his legs.
The van is modified to permit driving with hand controls for acceleration and brakes. So, with both hands occupied, Owens, 49, can't use a cellphone or drink a beverage while driving.
"There's nothing to distract you because you can't use your hands for anything (else)," Owens says.
He also keeps to the right lane, unless passing another vehicle, and a safe distance away from the car in front.
"I guess I'm driving the right way we are all supposed to drive," he says.
Getting to that point hasn't been easy, but it hasn't been entirely unfamiliar.
"It's like playing video games," says the former youth basketball and football coach from Carpentersville, while maneuvering the van along the roadways near his Carpentersville home. "It feels great."
Owens had to be certified to drive using the hand controls positioned on the left of the steering wheel. He pulls back to increase the throttle, pushes forward for the brakes, and turns the wheel with his right hand using a nob.
"I'll get used to it," he says, adding that he often instinctively feels the urge to press down with his legs while braking.
Owens' legs were severed by a boat's propellers in a parasailing accident while he was on a family vacation in South Carolina.
Fellow coach Scott Kennen, franchise business manager of Midas Crystal Lake, donated the 2005 Honda Odyssey to Owens' family.
Owens says the best part about being back behind the wheel is regaining his mobility and being able to take his sons Amari, 14, and Malakai, 11, to basketball and football practices.
"I like to drive," Owens says. "It's a challenge all the time when you are driving because you've always got to be on your toes. People hate it, but it's freedom to me."
Owens is pleased that he now can lift some of the burden off his wife, Melloney, who has been taking their sons to practices after her work as a social science teacher at Wheeling High School.
"We used to divide and conquer," Owens says about sharing responsibilities more evenly.
"It weighed on me so much. It's going to be a huge lift off my shoulders. I can do something."
Son Malakai also is excited to have his father back behind the wheel, cheering him from the sidelines.
"I think I play better with my dad around," Malakai says. "I like him being there. I can, like, rely on him."
Having crossed off driving from his list of recovery goals, Owens now is focusing his energies on being able to walk again using prosthetics.
He undergoes weekly physical therapy and is able to walk roughly 100 feet on prosthetic legs with the aid of a walker.
"It's tougher than I expected it to be," he says. "I'm having a hard time balancing right now."
Owens says he is pushing himself to walk a few feet farther each session. His goal is to be walking with a cane within nine months and, eventually, be able to play basketball and football with his sons again.
A GoFundMe page has been set up with a goal of raising $100,000 to help with Owens' medical expenses. A previous fundraiser collected more than $50,000.
Dodgeball and basketball fundraisers also are planned this month at local schools.