Doug VerHoeven grew up on a farm. And farming is all he has ever wanted to do. At the age of 16 he was in a car accident that took away his ability to walk.

Now 65, Doug drives a combine and various equipment (all John Deere) to farm 90 acres of corn and soybeans. He’s hunted in Africa and Alaska, loves to fish, and has a man cave adorned with memories of his trips. And yes, he’s still in a wheelchair.

Doug wants others to see what’s possible and that where there’s a will there’s a way.

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That’s why he has an open invitation. If there are people who get injured or are paralyzed and would like to come and see how he “does life,” his farm is open. “But,” he adds, “when they're ready. You can't make them. Some people will come. Some people unfortunately have just given up.”

Even so, he’s available. “Over the years, we’ve had many, many wheelchair people here—and even people that are walking but are struggling and need some inspiration," Doug said. "Whatever it might be, just whatever. We just show them what we can do.”

Doug demonstrates to visitors how they can drive, ride a lawn mower, cut grass, and be productive. “You can do all those things. You just have to find a little different way how to do it, you know. And I'm just thankful I've had the avenues to do that.”

He wasn’t always as positive as he is today. For the first few years he struggled—asking, "Why me?" and doubting he could go on with a future confined to a wheelchair. Doing his farm chores wasn’t the same as before the accident. He remembers pushing his wheelchair out to the chickens and getting stuck in the driveway. It was frustrating.

“I just came to the point of, if you will, being on my knees… 'God, I just don't get this. I don't know why you allowed this to happen or why this happened to me.'” As Doug prayed he felt something change.

“Instead of the wheelchair controlling me, as it had done, it was time now for me and the Lord to control the wheelchair [and to decide] where are we going to go from here?"

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Doug smiled. "It was like God was just waiting for that.”

That new mindset brought determination to his work. Being a farm boy, Doug had been brought up with the skills he would need to adapt equipment to accommodate his needs. He knew how to weld, take care of tractors, and load and unload wagons. He also hunted and fished, which he still loves to do.

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When his dad retired from farming, Doug began working with a neighbor who helped him get on the tractors to plant and harvest. He soon wanted to be more on his own and began tilling and planting his family farm—though hiring the combining work done. But that all changed when he had an opportunity to buy his dad’s combine that had been sold to the neighbor.  He adapted the combine with a chair lift so he could drive it.

Even though Doug was finding ways to accommodate his work, there continued to be times when everything felt like a struggle. It was then he would remind himself how “you don’t have to look very far to find somebody you wouldn’t want to trade places with, someone with a way bigger cross to carry than you do.”

He’s met some along the way who have spent their whole lives being bitter, whether they caused what happened to them or someone else did. And his heart goes out to them, but “I don’t want to be one of those people. That’s just not where I’m called to be… I’m a determined person.”

It was during one of the times he was hurting and searching again when he said:

"Lord, If just one person comes to know the Lord through me being in the wheelchair... If one person, Lord, through this can be saved for eternity from hell, it's good."

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Those were not easy terms for Doug to come to. "And do I say it every day? Probably not," he said. "But when you come to that, that's what it's about.”

Doug began doing speaking engagements and handicap awareness programs, which prompted him to think about turning his work into a ministry. With a “big leap of faith” he quit his job as a truck dispatcher—but continued to work the farm—and he and his wife Vivian started Fulfilling Ministries. Through their ministry they demonstrate techniques and adaptive equipment and share God along the way.

One family touched by Doug’s generosity was a mom who reached out for help with her teenager who had been born with a disability. The mom was trying to find things the teen could do in his day-to-day. Doug shared his heart with them as well as showed them the things he’d accumulated to help him work and hunt and live. The teen’s eyes were opened to a world of possibility.

At about that same time a friend of Doug’s who happened to have the same condition as the teen just happened to ask Doug to find a place for a track chair he wasn’t using. Doug knew instantly it was meant for the teen. He still gets emotional when he tells this story, just another example of “how God works.”

Doug always tells people, “When you live to give, you never get stuck on yourself. And you’ll be one of God’s happiest people on this earth.” Another one of Doug’s sayings is, “Live this day as though it's your last day, because one of these days you will be right… One day at a time, you know.”

How to get started

The adaptations Doug has made to his equipment have taken a lifetime. At some point along the way he met Ned Stoller, an Agricultural Engineer for Agrabililty—a program that helps farmers with disabilities overcome barriers in their work. Doug and Ned “fit like a hand in a glove.” Ned helps Doug find solutions for his needs and Doug helps Ned find solutions for his other clients.

It brings Doug to tears as he tells how Ned has travelled overseas and helped children by sharing some of their adaptations. To do what Ned does, Doug said, “You not only need to be a people person, but honestly, almost a little bit of a counselor because you’re hearing what all these people are going through.”

There are other organizations as well that help people get back to living. Michigan Works, Michigan Rehab, occupational therapists, and physical therapists are there to help you start and keep working. Doug said there’s a lot of cost to farming, and then when you’re a farmer with special needs, the add-ons for the adaptations make for a lot of additional cost.

Financial resources from programs like Michigan Back to Work have made it possible to do things at the scale he is doing them. For example, a few years ago Doug injured his arm. These organizations and other generous people who wanted him to succeed helped him convert a barn door to an electric garage door that he could open more easily.