SEATTLE - Fifty-four-year-old James Scranton is trying to get used to his borrowed wheelchair. his own wheelchair disappeared on Saturday

"I was shocked. I was really shocked," he said.

KING

Scranton believes whoever took his wheelchair also uses one, because they left an old battered one behind after taking his new, rented one.

Scranton prides himself on his independence. Three or four times a week he'll wheel himself to a nearby Fred Meyer store that's just right up the street. That's where his wheelchair was stolen.

At the store, he transfers from his wheelchair to the motorized ones provided by Fred Meyer.

He left his chair, as usual, in the store entrance while he shopped.

"I was devastated because it's rented for one thing and I have to pay for it each month until I get a new wheelchair," he said.

Scranton believes whoever took his wheelchair also uses one, because they left an old battered one behind after taking his new, rented one.

"You may think you need it but I need it just as bad as you do," he said.

Fred Meyer saw his predicament and loaned them one of their wheelchairs from the pharmacy. Scranton is grateful, but his goal is to get his rented wheelchair back. Until then, he says, all he can do is continue to pay for a wheelchair that someone else is using.

Scranton filed a police report, but so far no wheelchairs have turned up.