Window Cleaner Recovers From Horror Crash

Chris Stoneman, 62, is planning to ride 1,000miles in aid of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Leeds window cleaner recovers from horror crash to take on 1,000mile charity ride: A Leeds window cleaner who broke his neck in a horrific road accident has pledged to raise funds for the charity that came to his aid. Chris Stoneman, from Woodhouse, became the 2,000th person to be rescued by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) when the rapid response charity was called out to help him after he smashed into a wall on his motorbike in 2007.

The 62-year-old had driven over a patch of diesel, which his bike slipped on, sending him careering into a wall on a road near Settle, North Yorkshire. After a slow and painful five-month recovery, Chris has swapped his biking leathers for a cycle helmet and will ride 1,000miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats over just 10 days in July.

The father-of-two said: “I know it’s going to be really tough cycling 100 miles a day, but we are training hard and I just wanted to do something that would raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. “It’s a fantastic charity that provides a lifesaving service. Living where we do there are a lot of people who enjoy the countryside by biking, cycling, climbing, going horse riding and walking and you never know when you might need that helicopter.”

Chris is hoping to raise more than £1,000 for the YAA, which needs to raise £9,990 every day to keep its two helicopters in the air. Now in the midst of an intense training regime, he has given up his love of motorcycling for good and joined Airedale Olympic Cycling Club. He added: “The thing I missed most about biking was the adrenaline rush, but cycling really gives you an incredible buzz and is such a brilliant thing to do.”

To donate visit www.justgiving.com/Chris-Stoneman3

Roof Fall Window Cleaner Making Recovery

"I was helping my dad do some window cleaning and I was showing the other workers how to use a repelling device and so I demonstrated by going off the building and I just had a freak accident and the rope broke."

Man Who Fell Off Hospital Continues To Rebound (Manhattan, Kan. ) - David Van Bebber is defying the odds. The 29-year-old pastor and instructor at Missouri State University came home for the summer to help with his family's business when he fell from the top of the Geary Community Hospital in Junction City on May 27, 2013. "I was helping my dad do some window cleaning and I was showing the other workers how to use a repelling device and so I demonstrated by going off the building and I just had a freak accident and the rope broke," Van Bebber said.

He fell 50 fifty feet from the top of the building, plummeting several stories to the ground. "When the rope broke, I just thought in my head, not ‘oh darn’ or ‘oh I’m falling,’ it was ‘I better land on my feet.’ And so I did situate by body so that I could land on my feet and I did land my feet. That’s why I have two shattered heel bones. I landed on my feet and then hit my tailbone and it bounced off the concrete and I fell back. The impact basically crushed my heels, my tailbone and a burst fracture of my L-3 lumbar which in your lower back," he said.

Right away, crews brought him into Geary Community Hospital's emergency room and he was then transferred to Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka where the spinal surgeon was amazed that he could move his legs. Van Bebber says multiple doctors have told him that people who have a burst fracture of the L-3 or below are paralyzed below the waist. 

The pain from his injuries was unimaginable and the road to recovery has been grueling but he continues to make strides and grow stronger. "I really want to get better and so every day, I just pray that God will help me work as hard as I can to recover as much as I possibly can. I can take steps and walk with a walker. I've been doing that for two weeks," Van Bebber told WIBW during one of his physical therapy sessions at Maximum Performance Physical Therapy and Fitness in Manhattan.

His parents have been by his side supporting him through his recovery. He's also found strength in the support from those in his hometown of Riley, KS and members of his church in Missouri. Friends and family have been visiting him and sending him notes of encouragement. "I think I’m going to recover to about 95% percent. Already, I’ve done more than what I should be able to do and so I’m just going to keep doing everything I can because I want to be able to run again, ride my bike, rock climbing. I love to run. I love to swim. I want to hunt again and I want to get all those things back because I love them," he said.

As he continues to heal and strives to get back to his active lifestyle and ministry, Van Bebber is teaching an online communications class (Intro to Public Speaking) for Missouri State University. He says he is grateful for every step he takes and his continued progress. "What's great is that everyday, things get a little bit better," he told 13 News.

Great Window Cleaning News

Signs of recovery for window cleaner Simon Hill: A Telford window cleaner who was left fighting for his life after falling from a ladder has begun to show some signs of recovery, his family said today. Father-of-eight Simon Hill suffered serious head injuries when he fell while cleaning windows at a house in Ketley on November 13. The 45-year-old was flown to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire for a life-saving operation after suffering a serious head injury. Mr Hill and his wife Lizz, both 45, who live in Leegomery, have been married for 25 years and have eight children. Mr Hill, who has been cleaning windows in Telford since the 1980s, was only discovered after a boy spotted him lying on the grass of his client’s front garden. Simon Hill is a member of Window Cleaning Resource featured below. Read initial story here.

Window Cleaning Resource Membership Drive: As you know, as a WCRA Member you get the following amazing benefits:

*  $500 in FREE marketing materials

*  $50 in FREE advanced business documents

*  HUGE price breaks on every item in the WCR Store

*  Private forum access

*  Monthly Webinars 100% FREE of charge (we just had one with the E-Myth folks)

*  A listing in the Insured Window Cleaning Directory

*  $99 printed Safety Manual FREE of charge

With all of the awesome benefits that WCRA offers when you become a member, they thought it was fitting to add something else. For the next 24 hours only, WCR are giving away the original Aqua-Dapter with every membership. So until 9 PM EST on Thursday 12/16/10. They'll send you a FREE original Aqua-Dapter when you become a WCRA member.  That's a $149 additional value, completely FREE of charge. What's an Aqua-Dapter? See here.

Become a member today!

View Full Member Benefits Here.