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One of the most humbling things for many people as they age is the loss of mobility. For those who live in homes with two stories, the challenges can be many. To remedy this, Nick Marich Jr., from Heron, decided to take it upon himself to use his building skills to put a private, homemade elevator, into his parent's home. For Nick Marich Sr. and his wife Adrienne, the elevator their son put in has been a life saver.

After fighting a serious knee infection, a collective decision with doctors has been made to amputate Marich's leg. At the moment set into a wheelchair, Marich Sr. has had to deal with a serious deficit in mobility. After the amputation, he may loose 75% of his leg. As their home was, to access the wood stove and the wood supply, the Mariches would need to access their basement by either going down the stairs, or leaving our their front door and walking down a steep street to enter through a lower level back door to the basement.

Marich Sr. also need to access their washer and dryer, extra bedroom, deep freeze and more, all of which are located downstairs in the basement. To avoid these two options, Marich Jr. decided to take out the stairwell and put in an elevator of his own design.

John Dowd

The elevator uses a special device used for climbing (below) to act as a safety, and a truck winch to lift it up and down.

With help from his son, Marich Jr. reassembled a small elevator that he prefabricated at his home into a shaft he created inside his parent's old stairwell. The shaft is four small angle steel pieces that run down the corners of the elevator itself, guiding it up and down. The elevator is made to be rolled into with a wheelchair or stood on and includes a wooden stop as a safety feature. The contraption is lifted by a truck winch with a remote that travels up and down with the elevator. It also has a seatbelt style safety strap; in case the winch was to give way.

Marich Sr. stays positive, and with all going on in his life, he says people will ask him how he keeps from getting depressed. He replies, quite optimistically, "Heck no, I'm not depressed!" He will them talk about his 24 great grandchildren and how if he "wasn't 84 years old with a bum knee he'd be 16."