Wheels of life

Jason Albert | October 2008 issue

John Mryczko

Photo: Jeff Sciortino

Midway through his solo wheelchair trek from Morton Grove, Illinois, to Davenport, Iowa, John Mryczko thought to himself, “Why am I out here?” During his self-titled “Rollathon 2008,” 28-year-old Mryczko had been chased by farm dogs, stopped by the police and now, the clouds threatened rain. But the sky in front of him remained clear, so he pressed on. “I’ve never quit at anything,” Mryczko says. “I’d put a challenge to myself, and I was going to complete it.”

Mryczko did finish his 200-mile journey, a trip to raise money for and awareness about spinal cord injuries. It was the latest chapter in staring down the injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down at 19.

For as long as he could remember, Mryczko had been obsessed with action and motor sports—BMX, skateboarding, snowboarding—and this need for adrenaline contributed to the high-speed motorcycle accident that ended in his injury. After a two-month bout with depression in the aftermath, he realized that feeling sorry for himself wasn’t doing any good. He concluded he was lucky to have had 19 years to experience all the things he did, so instead of trying to become someone he wasn’t, he created extremechairing.com.

During its seven-year existence, extremechairing.com has become the largest adaptive-action-and-adventure-sports website in the world for information about all extreme wheelchair sports. Mryczko recently received non-profit status for the site, which he hopes will help him raise money for spinal cord injury research.

Never one to set small goals, Mryczko hopes to start a company that manufactures all-terrain vehicles for individuals with limited mobility. “I want to be jumping cars and putting on shows in my dune buggy,” he says. “I’m always thinking about the next thing I can do to help people, and this is what I’m good at.”