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Huntington County HELP aiding local man reach his goal of getting back behind wheel

Bill Tollett sits in his Mayne Street home, waiting for the weather to clear so he can take a spin in his truck — a truck that, after an almost two-year quest, is now equipped with hand controls to accommodate Tollet’s physical abilities.
Bill Tollett sits in his Mayne Street home, waiting for the weather to clear so he can take a spin in his truck — a truck that, after an almost two-year quest, is now equipped with hand controls to accommodate Tollet’s physical abilities. Photo by Cindy Klepper.

Originally published Dec. 23, 2013.

Bill Tollett shares his home with a couple of old English bulldogs.

"They're my boys," he says. "They're spoiled rotten."
He'd like to spoil them a little bit more.

"One of the first things I want to do is take my dogs to the reservoir so they can play," Tollett says.

Driving his dogs to the reservoir would have been an impossible dream a few months ago. The simple act of driving was out of his reach after the amputation of his right leg and the loss of several toes from his left foot.

It's been a long road, but Tollett is once again behind the wheel.

Tollett lost his leg in 2010, the result of peripheral artery disease and repeated blood clots in his leg; the toes were removed about a year and a half ago.

"I couldn't drive any more after that," he says.
Until he lost his leg, not being able to drive didn't really slow him down.

"Before, I could walk or ride a moped," Tollett says.
The amputation changed all that, making driving a vehicle crucial to his independence.

Before getting back behind the wheel, though, he made his first priority finding a place to live. He had stayed with a family member and eventually moved into an apartment, but he wanted his own house.

He had some back pay from M&S Sheet Metal, where he used to work, and started putting back some money from his disability checks. He looked at houses that were in foreclosure - "I must have looked at 70 or 80 houses," he says - and eventually closed a deal on a house on Mayne Street, in Huntington. It fit his needs, with two bathrooms and a bedroom on the main floor.

He moved into the house in February of 2012 and is in the midst of a renovation project, which includes replacing the carpet with laminate and tile. It's a slow-going project because, he notes wryly, "I don't move as fast as I used to."

Then came a realization.

"I thought, I'm going to be stranded for the rest of my days on earth," Tollett says. "I decided I need my license because I'm stranded. No matter where I am, I'm stranded."

He started saving money again, this time for a truck. And he acquired the dogs, Diesel and Sledge.

"I knew the only way to take care of them and myself was to get my driver's license," he says.

Paula Garrett, a social worker with Parkview Home Health, was helping Tollett get his life back together.
Garrett is also active with Huntington County HELP, which has a mission of helping people with disabilities, and asked Tollett what he needed that HELP might be able to assist with.

What he needed, he told her, was a ramp out his back door, so he could play with the dogs in the back yard, and to be able to get back behind the wheel.

She thought he might have to settle for just one of those two needs, Tollett says, but a week later returned with good news: HELP might be able to accomplish both.
That was about two years ago.

Tollett hadn't had a driver's license in so long that a simple license renewal wasn't a possibility. He would have to start the process from the beginning, with a learner's permit. And before a vehicle could be outfitted with hand controls, Tollett would have to prove he'd be able to use the hand controls to drive.

Huntington County HELP, Garrett said, would pay for each step in the process as Tollett achieved that step.

Tollett kept saving money, found a truck he liked and talked the seller down to his price. He bought the truck about a year ago, but still wasn't able to drive himself.

The first thing he had to do, Garrett explains, was get the learner's permit. He accomplished that after several tries, studying for months between tests. He had to have the truck inspected to make sure it was safe; after several calls, he found a certified mechanic willing to do the inspection at no cost.

Garrett connected Tollett with Therapeutic Mobility Services, headquartered in Fort Wayne, which first evaluated Tollett, provided 10 hour-long training sessions and finally made adaptations to Tollett's truck to meet his needs - at a total cost of more than $3,800, all paid for by Huntington County HELP.

Tollett picked up the truck and drove it home from Fort Wayne on Friday, Dec. 13. Then it snowed, so he had to wait for the snow to melt before he could load up the dogs and hit the road.

"Before, I just felt trapped, what was the point," Tollett says. "I was actually at the point of just giving up. Now I don't feel that way."

He can drive his dogs to the reservoir; he can start thinking about taking a vacation, maybe to Mt. Rushmore.
"I sure am grateful to HELP," he says. "My nurse, she's just been a jewel through the whole thing. I couldn't have done that. Just saying thank you is not enough.

"I told her this here would be the best Christmas present I ever got, and it is," Tollett says. "I don't want anything else. I'm real content now."

To learn more about Huntington County HELP or to apply for assistance, visit huntingtoncountyhelp.com.