Quadriplegic's wheelchair stolen at Boise State home football game - East Idaho News
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Quadriplegic’s wheelchair stolen at Boise State home football game

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Nathan Ogden | Courtesy KIVI

BOISE — While The Boise State Broncos and the Virginia Cavaliers faced off on the blue turf Friday night, Nathan Ogden says the unthinkable happened to him.

The quadriplegic’s specialized wheelchair was stolen from the stands while he watched the game at Albertsons Stadium.

“Can you believe that? Someone stole my wheelchair,” said Nathan Ogden during a Facebook live Friday Night.

Nathan says at the start of the game his wife carried him up to their seats leaving his wheelchair at the base of the stands. When they came back to retrieve it at halftime, the $4,000 wheelchair made just for him was gone.

The Boise Police Department and Boise State Security are now investigating.

“It’s not just your legs, it’s your independence,” explained Ogden Saturday. “That allows me to move, it allows me to choose to go right or go left. It allows me to go down and tuck my girls into bed, it allows me to provide for my family.”

Nathan is now using a backup chair that doesn’t quite fit him right.

The experience is leaving Nathan with a new perspective. Recently he and his family raised more than $43,000 biking from Bend, Oregon to Los Angeles, all to help people in other countries in need of wheelchairs of their own.

“Kind of how I felt last night when I realized I don’t have a chair,” said Ogden. “I think this whole deal has spurred a new energy within me because all of a sudden I’m feeling that again.”

Nathan says he doesn’t want to press charges against the thief, if they’re ever caught. He just want’s his chair back. Friends and even complete strangers are now offering to buy him a new one, but Nathan says there are others out there who need the help more.

“Go to chairthehope.com and help provide a wheelchair for someone who needs it,” he said. “I’ll get my chair, or I’ll get a chair somehow.”

This article was originally published by fellow CNN affiliate KIVI. It is used here with permission.

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