FORK, Md. — Our favorite Buzz’s; Buzz Lightyear, Buzz Battaglia, Buzz Aldrin, Buzz Becker, (former neighbor) and Buz Chmielewski. This Buz was named after his dad's best friend who was killed in Vietnam.
When Buz was 17, he took a trip to Ocean City and took a dive into the Atlantic at 9th Street, a move that made him take a seat for life.
The man on two wheels is just asking for four more.
It was a May day, 34 years ago and Buz remember his final splash, “I remember my friends pulling me out of the water and I can still see them over my head.”
Little Buzie grew up near Hazelwood Inn where he would clear plates of hot roast beef. He would take pony rides during the summer.
“Its an extension of me, this wheel chair is just a pair of shoes,” said the 51-year-old who is now living with his best friend's mom in Fork.
She keeps an eye on him, he keeps her company.
“Since I broke my neck, I see a whole new world," said Buz, who coaches and inspires those who are paralyzed with more than just fear.
He gives great advice, “laugh, cry, cuss, take a day.”
Buz has fallen out of his wheel chair, but he has also fallen out of an airplane. What he wants to do now is get a new van.
His was built during the Middle Ages. The ramp fell and almost trapped him. It's expensive and he knows it.
But he needs that face to face with spinal cord injured people so he can root them onto their new life. All of his pep talks led to an invitation to have the skin on his head peeled like a fruit roll up, it's for research.
He got three microchips planted (out now) but the study was conducted to see if his brain waves could move a robot and it worked. Next up, working on that new van and when he gets it, he will zoom down to Ocean City and stare.
If you notice he spells his name with one 'z', Buz. We found the missing Z. It's in amazing.
If you’d like to help Buz out, at the urging and pushing of his friends, he has set up a GoFundMe page.
