Wheelchair

The vehicles roll in all morning. Sometimes eight or 10 drivers are lined up outside the "service station" waiting for mechanics Tom Nasuti and Tavi Morris to call, "Next. " "On Thursdays we do routine maintenance for everyone," says Nasuti. "We check batteries. Make sure they're secure. Check the water level. Check the tire pressure. Make sure the brakes are safe. " The pair are full-time wheelchair mechanics at Inglis House, home to 300 physically disabled men and women on Belmont Avenue near City.

In Ben Campo's magic room, three folded wheelchairs lean on the bright yellow mummy box, which transforms a mummy into a beautiful woman. Nearby, a buzz saw in a 12-foot-wide frame awaits her. There's a trophy on the wall for the Most Unique Motorcycle, and a plaque from the Veterans Administration's 50th Anniversary Talent Contest. The recipient, who calls himself the Greatest Magician on Wheels, thumbs through his photo album, pointing out a script of Norman Vincent Peale's radio program about him and several pages full of pictures of belly dancers who have assisted him in his magic shows, which he has performed at benefits for the handicapped.

After three hours of testimony that left even the defense attorney moved to the brink of tears, Christopher Easton, 21, a high school dropout from Northern Liberties, was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for the attempted murder of Kevin Neary, a self-employed businessman who lived in the neighborhood. Neary, 29, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, was walking home Nov. 15 after a night out with friends when he was mugged on Bodine Street within view of his front door.

Tony Nogueira won the wheelchair division in record time yesterday at the 28th annual Broad Street Run. Nogueira, who lives in Glen Ridge, N.J., was not the only one who set a record pace in the 10-mile race sponsored by Independence Blue Cross. Kenya's Patrick Cheruiyot established a new men's record in his first try on Broad Street. Naomi Wangui captured the women's race. Nogueira won for the fifth straight year, completing the course in 32 minutes, 5 seconds to shatter his 2003 record of 34:43.

Last year, misfortune paid a visit to Rudofis Wilson and his family - and decided to settle in. On March 18, 1994, he learned that his 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Sheila - whom he had thought safe in the care of her mother's relatives - was barely alive at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She had been plunged into scalding water, inadequately fed for months and shaken so violently that she suffered catastrophic brain damage. A maternal aunt, Cynthia Kettrles, eventually would be convicted of abusing Sheila and sentenced to 7 to 14 years in prison.

Two men, one of them in a wheelchair, robbed a Marlton man at gunpoint Tuesday morning and fled with $25, police said. James Knight, 56, told police he was walking in the 400 block of South Sixth Street shortly before 7 a.m. when the men, both in their 20s, approached him. Knight said one of the men was in a wheelchair. The robber who was on foot leveled a handgun at Knight's chest and demanded money, then went through Knight's pockets and removed the cash. While this was going on, Knight told police, the man in the wheelchair acted as a lookout.

Fred Schwartz can't walk, but he can fly. He jumps out of planes to help fund research into multiple sclerosis, the neurological disease that put him in a wheelchair. "Skydiving is something I can do to raise money and awareness," Schwartz, 42, says, preparing to jump at Freefall Adventures, in Williamstown. "I want to inspire people with disabilities," adds the Burlington Township resident. Besides, he insists, stepping out of a plane at 13,500 feet while harnessed to a skydiving instructor is fun. "Your mind goes blank when you're falling out of the sky," Schwartz says.

Kaitlyn Willard was feeling like all the other competitors Sunday who had just completed the 13.1-mile half-marathon trek that defines the Jefferson Hospital Philadelphia Distance Run. You could tell that by her flushed cheeks and look of accomplishment. Perhaps it was obvious what set Willard, who turns 16 tomorrow, apart from the other approximately 8,600 half-marathoners in this fun fund-raising race. She went the distance in her wheelchair. "It was awesome," the Upper Darby High sophomore said.

It was the little things that made the biggest impressions. The phone booth whose coin slot was just inches too far away, the card racks where selection was limited to the bottom rows and the store aisles that were not nearly wide enough for a wheelchair. These are the things Upper Darby High School students will always remember from their school trip on Thursday when the lesson was life in a wheelchair. "When people build these stores, they just don't stop and think what it's like for a person in a wheelchair," said Jigisha Patel, 18, an Upper Darby senior.

Larcina Simmons was 15 years old and three months pregnant when she was shot in the chest June 14, 1993, the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting in South Philadelphia. Simmons and her unborn child survived, though Simmons' wound left her paralyzed below the waist and in a wheelchair. Simmons and Derek, the son she almost lost, have also been separated. Not out of choice, Simmons' lawyer said, but because there are no group homes that are accessible to a wheelchair and offer room for a teenage mother and child.