In his motorized wheelchair, Wesley Alfred can be quite independent — except when he's hungry.

How, who to help

        The 21-year-old Butler County native likes to zip around Wal-Mart, Kroger and other stores a couple of miles from his Hamilton ranch home by wiggling the joy stick on his battery-powered chair.

        But when he rolls up to the kitchen table in his three-bedroom house on the west side, his freedom ends. Duschenne Muscular Dystrophy, a progressive disease, has robbed him of the arm, hand and shoulder mobility needed to eat.

        “I can't move my arms. I've just gotten too weak. I have to have people feed me now,” says Mr. Alfred, who hasn't walked for 11 years.

        One of his two housemates also must be fed by the around-the-clock care-giver. So therapists at the United Cerebral Palsy's Aaron W. Perlman Center have recommended that the 1997 Hamilton High School graduate get a Windsor Feeder, a motorized feeding arm that he can operate with his chin.

        “What's so simple for everyone else is a major challenge for me. It really takes away my independence,” says Mr. Alfred, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at birth.

        “It could be worse. I could be paralyzed from the neck down,” he says. “And my brain still works.”

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