On the surface, it’s clear that Steve Milum and Sam Danniels have a lot in common. Both Milum and Danniels are originally from Ontario, both have a background in athletics, and both have a spinal cord injury (SCI). The apparent similarities between Milum and Danniels, however, go much deeper, with both men sharing a desire for entrepreneurship that helps members of the SCI community and supports their families. “The reason I started [Chair Stuff] is two-fold,” Milum says. “The first reason is that I had a bladder surgery around that time and the service out there was terrible. The second was that I had a two-year-old son, and I had a corporate job with a high demand, so I was never at home…[Chair Stuff] was a way to be there and be a better Dad.”
As someone with a C6-C7 injury, Milum has firsthand experience with the often slow, confusing, and impersonal medical equipment field and founded Chair Stuff in 2001 with the intent to provide a better medical supply service to those in need. “I enjoy the customers the most. The people—nurses, doctors, customers—the spine world is a pretty small world, and you get to know everyone really well and build those relationships,” he says. Milum, who usually has a Bluetooth headset connected to one ear and a cell phone in his pocket, prioritized Chair Stuff’s relationships
and customer service from the beginning and has been at the helm of the business as it expanded.
“When I first started out, there were maybe three types of catheters and now there’s over 100,” he explains. “There’s a lot of different products out there and there’s a lot of different players that are all fighting for the same space. Knowing our customers and what it’s like is what makes us different.” Over the course of 23 years, Milum successfully navigated these industry changes and Chair Stuff has grown from a one-person operation running out of a makeshift warehouse in Milum’s house into a provincial provider delivering thousands of products from dozens of manufacturers. The business currently has four employees and operates out of a large warehouse in Vancouver. Moreover, Chair Stuff has built a close relationship with SCI BC and has been a long-term and ongoing supporter of our Peer Program since 2016.
This success has certainly not been without its ups and downs. “The most challenging thing is knowing that our products are needed. If you have a strike or any kind of disruption in service—it’s stressful because you have to get that product to the person and you know how important it is,” Milum says. The COVID-19 pandemic was especially difficult for Chair Stuff. Two employees became ill at the same time and Milum had to reach out to his kids (now fully grown and attending university) for help. “The stress level was getting too high. I was the only one here and I couldn’t get sick, or things would stop, and our customers would be the ones
paying for it.”
Last year, Milum was approached by, Sam Danniels, another SCI BC peer with a passion for business and family who was facing a similar dilemma Milum encountered over 20 years ago. “I reached out to Steve not with the intention of necessarily becoming involved in Chair Stuff as much as just being interested in the industry in general,” Danniels explains. “I had been in residential real estate for almost a decade and had a bad injury a couple of years ago where I broke my shoulder, and it forced me to spend a lot of time on the couch. I was able to think about my next steps and I wasn’t thrilled about the transition of becoming a parent and being in real estate… to put it bluntly, I felt like almost every day I had to decide—do I want to disappoint my family or my clients? There just wasn’t enough of me to go around.”
After their initial meeting in the summer of 2023, Milum and Danniels realized there may be a mutually beneficial solution. Milum needed some stress relief and a shared workload and Danniels wanted a career shift that would allow him to have regular hours and more time with his young family (a situation all too familiar for Milum). “It took us awhile to figure out what made the most sense to each other as individuals, but also for the business,” Danniels says. “But we kept coming back to this idea that together we’ll be stronger and that’ll be better for business overall.” Danniels, who has a T4 injury, had been a Chair Stuff customer for about six years prior to meeting Milum and brought a wealth of personal experience and professional client-centered knowledge to the newly formed partnership.
“It’s no secret amongst people with spinal cord injuries or who are in a similar situation that customer service isn’t priority one for a lot of companies that deal in the sphere… Our goal here is to preserve what Steve’s built with Chair Stuff, making sure we treat our customers like gold and that they come first.”
As an accomplished athlete, Danniels competed professionally in three paraskiing disciplines and pursued cycling, snowmobiling, paragliding, and surfing. Through these endeavours he learned the value of connecting with and contributing to the SCI community. “I’ve thought a lot about my contribution to the community and being an athlete was a great way to be a role model, but it’s a pretty narrow contribution,” he says. “It’s not quite the same as every day dedicating a part of yourself to making sure people in the community are living well. [Chair Stuff] has hundreds of customers who we contribute meaningfully to on a day-by-day basis. That’s one of the boxes that I wanted to tick as I thought about a career change.” As one of the prominent sponsors for SCI BC events like the Charity Challenge, Learn to Camp, Wellness Weekends, or our Adaptive Cycling program, Danniels and Chair Stuff will also undoubtedly give back in ways that go beyond ensuring peers have the medical supplies they need.
Steve Milum’s longtime support and active participation at SCI BC events over the years. Top, left to right: Handcycle Demo Day and Charity Challenge. Bottom, left to right: Multi Sports Day and Guy’s Garage.
Milum and Danniels agreed on an official partnership as of September 2024, and are excited about what comes next. “It’s about looking ahead,” Milum says. “We’ve both put faith in each other and we’re going to grow the business together and we’re both going to succeed or not off those decisions together.” For Milum, the year ahead will be about transitioning into shared responsibilities and for Danniels it will be all about industry learning and bringing a fresh perspective to processes and technology. “It’s been impressive to get a ‘look under the hood’ and see how much Steve has done with such a lean team,” Danniels says. “Going forward we want to offer more options for younger customers who might be more comfortable with online purchases… but we’re not looking to become an e-commerce site. We just want to make sure that as the world changes that Chair Stuff changes with it.”
Above all, Milum and Danniels want to remain focused on the similarities that brought them together in the first place—a shared entrepreneurial spirit, family dedication, and commitment to customer care. “Having a disability of any kind is hard and there’s a lot of baggage that comes along with it,” Danniels says. “We want to make sure that people with disabilities are getting the supplies they need so they can go about their day feeling as comfortable as possible without adding to the complications of having a disability.” Reflecting on the past two decades of business and thinking about the future, Milum adds, “That was always the goal, and it still is now.”
