The byACRE Ultralight - How I Stopped Worrying and Found My Freedom Again

I bought my byACRE rollator around a year and a half ago and it has changed my life so much for the better.

Why I needed a rollator

I’ve had a muscle disease for around 25 years, and in the last few years, as the side effects of treatment have caused incremental problems, along with the aches and pains of that start in middle age, my mobility has really started to become a problem.

I probably needed a rollator a good year before I bought it. I had been using a stick for stability for around two years, but it wasn’t much of a help, and my stability was poor. I held off from buying a rollator for a number of reasons: Firstly, I was embarrassed, I’m not ‘old’ and I always thought of rollators as an old persons aid. On some level I felt like a fraud – after all I was still walking around and no health professional had ‘prescribed’ a rollator. I was in pain, and stumbling and struggling, but I was upright. Post covid, appointments with specialists seemed to be less frequent than before and so for a couple of years I hadn’t really seen any specialists in person. I was keeping going, but it was really very hard. Things came to a head last summer when I realised I was utterly exhausted and I had reached the stage where I was dreading having to go out at all.

The Search Begins

So finally, after doing a little research and without waiting for permission from anyone else, I bought my byACRE rollator and it has been an absolute life changer. I’m still weak, I’m still in pain, but with the support of my rollator I can go out, and walk at my own pace and take a break on my seat if I need to. I can put the rollator in my car without anyone’s help, it folds flat very easily and then I either lift it into the boot of my car, or if that feels like too much work, I can roll it into the footwell of the back seat. Its great being able to drive anywhere and feel completely independent. There are a number of bags available– the shopping bag and the weekend bag are particularly useful, they hook on and off easily and the weekend bag in particular feels very sturdy. I regularly use it to carry my laptop to and from work.

Why the byACRE?

I researched different types of rollators but ultimately I chose the byACRE because it is incredibly light in comparison to most other rollators, and because it is quite beautifully designed. I chose a strawberry red rollator, and I think its wonderful that byACRE are offering their products in such a brilliant range of colours (I’m currently eyeing up the new champagne gold). It feels more like an accessory than a grim walking aid – and that really matters.

I’ve found my rollator to be really sturdy and it handles what I put it through on a daily basis. I did find out recently that it is possible to damage a rollator through being really careless. I brought it onto an escalator in a local shopping centre because I couldn’t be bothered to wait for the lift, got to the top and turned too quickly and the escalator handrail caught on one of my wheels, snapping it straight off. I managed to trundle on three wheels to a coffee shop where I went to Assist Mobility’s site and placed an order for a replacement wheel. Later that afternoon I received an email confirming that the wheel had been despatched (on a Sunday, absolutely amazing service) and it arrived on Tuesday morning. The wheel was really easy to fit, it was the work of five minutes, and I learnt a valuable lesson about escalators. I was pleased to find out that even though the rollator itself had been a relatively expensive purchase, the replacement wheel cost only a little over twenty pounds. 

My rollator is a great travel companion and has accompanied me on trips to Malaga, Mallorca and Bordeaux over the past year. I invested in a travel bag which means that I can keep my rollator with me right until the gate. I then zip it up into the travel bag for the flight. The travel bag works well and I’ve found it to protect the rollator very successfully, (however I will say that it is a fairly exact fit so it’s worth practicing packing the bag away before you travel for the first time). I haven’t travelled by myself in the last couple of years and I’m not sure I would have the confidence to do so anymore, but I know it makes travelling easier for my husband as well – he looks after any luggage and knows I’m a lot more stable with my rollator than I was with a stick.

It is a very light and compact rollator. People often stop me in the street and ask about it – and they always make two comments – firstly they say how lovely it looks and then when I let them try it, they comment on how light it is. Because of the nature of my muscle disease I’m pretty weak so I don’t really notice that – everything seems heavy to me! But if I can manage the rollator anyone with normal muscle strength will have no problem at all.

The byACRE Rollator is a relatively expensive purchase and certainly there are cheaper alternatives out there. Having researched what is available I was happy to pay the extra money for the byACRE because it is considerably lighter than the alternatives and because it is actually a thing of beauty. I’m not embarrassed at all to be seen out and about with my byACRE. 

Learn More About my Rollator

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About the Author

Hilary McErlean

I’m from Northern Ireland and live with my husband, our daughter, and our two cats. Just after our daughter was born 25 years ago, I was diagnosed with polymyositis and in the space of a couple of months went from completely normal mobility to being barely able to rise from a chair. After effective but fairly brutal treatment (I regained my strength but lost my hair) I had a few lovely years of remission: however the polymyositis returned, along with a host of side effects from treatment, and each time it returned it left me with more health problems, pain, and weakness.

I must emphasise that buying my rollator has not worked miracles for my health but it has allowed me to keep moving-slowly and not very far- but most importantly-independently.