ROBERTSDALE, Alabama -- Michael Parnell is busy these days getting used to his new set of wheels.

The 13-year-old son of Silverhill resident Tia Parnell, recently completed his seventh grade year at Central Baldwin Middle School.

At age 10, Michael was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos-Syndrome and a rare condition called Dysautonomia. As a result, he has problems with his joints and suffers from a malfunction of his nervous system, which leaves Michael, for the most part, confined to a wheelchair.

It’s been a couple of years since Michael was able to attend regular classes, but when contacted CBMS Principal Chuck Anderson said they would make something work.

“He arrived on the first day of school with a huge smile on his face,” Anderson said. “At the beginning it was a struggle for him to get through the day, but by the end of the year he was rocking it.”

He began this school year attending quarter to half-day sessions depending on his stamina. Now, at the end of this school year, he attends more than half of the day and participates on both the track and basketball teams.

“We approached him about the possibility of competing in sports and he jumped at the chance,” Anderson said.

So, using his own wheelchair, Michael began competing on the basketball team. When it came to track, Anderson joked, getting him to compete benefitted the school as much as it did Michael.

 “You thought we were helping you, but I just wanted that 10 points (every first place finish counts 10 points toward the team’s County Championship total),” he joked. “We knew the county has to let physically challenged athletes compete and we knew that there were no other athletes competing in the county.”

Michael began competing in local track meets and was looking forward to competing at the County Meet.

But he and his mother were involved in a car accident on the way to the meet and Michael would have to wait another year for that dream to come true.

In the meantime, Anderson began working with the Mobile Patriots wheelchair basketball team to try and get a racing wheelchair for Michael.

A physically challenged athlete himself, Anderson lost part of his arm in a shark attack while training for a triathlon in 2000. He has received help from the organization through Stephanie Jeansonne, a former coach.

“We were expecting it to take months,” said Jeansonne.

But through a series of coincidences, the organization was able to make it happen in just weeks.

In the end, Jeansonne said, she was contacted by a family in Florida, who were able to secure a racing wheelchair through an organization called Challenged Athlete Funds.

On Tuesday, May 28, Randy and Pam Chiabaroli and their son, Joey, presented Michael with his very own racing wheelchair worth $3,500. Joey, 17, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has been competing on the national circuit since the age of 6, with much success.

 “I am so glad this is happening for him,” said Ashley Swearingen, who works with multi-needs students at CBMS. “I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.”

Michael and Joey, with the help of Randy, Pam and mother Tia, tried out his new set of wheels that afternoon on the track at Robertsdale High School.

“He’s picked it up faster than just about anybody I’ve coached,” Joey said. “I think he’s a natural.”

But Michael doesn’t want to stop there. He wants to use this opportunity to help others.

“There is literally nothing for physically challenged athletes at this level in this area,” Jeansonne said. “You have the opportunity to make history.”

And this wouldn’t be the first time. In 2011, Michael and his mother created a charity called Project Soles 4U, collecting new and gently used shoes of all sizes, distributing them to individuals and groups in need, both here in America and as far away as Haiti.

“I just want everyone to have the same opportunities as I have,” he said.