In 1980, Dewayne Rettig, then 22, was proudly serving his country in the US Air Force. Stationed in Germany, he had no idea his life was going to change forever. One night, as he and two buddies were walking back to the base, a drunk driver plowed into the trio, killing one, and critically injuring Rettig and the other soldier.
As the years passed, the Milville, Pennsylvania, man’s injuries continued to limit his activities, and when he began experiencing severe back pain, he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, or AS, a rare form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and was directly related to the trauma he sustained in Germany. Rettig watched his independence slowly slip from his grasp. The once active veteran began to have more and more trouble leaving his house.
Enter the Shaler Area Rotary Club. As part of their veterans outreach, members of the club spent a year and a half raising $15,000 to buy Rettig an all-terrain motorized wheel chair.
