Anthony Cardoza was 16 when he lost two friends in a tragic head-on collision in the mountains 70 miles from his hometown of Klamath Falls, Oregon. Anthony himself spent two years in the hospital recovering from the accident, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. He is lucky and, as he puts it, “just stoked” to be alive. He had to learn to do everything different and immediately recognized his feelings of freedom and independence would be tested. On his own and in a wheelchair at 18 years old, Anthony realized he had to find a way to make a living … he knew he was simply not going to survive on social security alone.
“I was like, ‘Man, I need to better myself and do something,’” he says.
About that time, a buddy gave Anthony a riding lawnmower so he could take jobs in lawncare, and as he found more customers who liked his work, he knew he’d found his path. Anthony also knew he wanted to be his own boss.
Eventually, Anthony created Anthony’s Lawn Care & Snow Removal, which over 17 years has grown to include a crew of four working alongside him. “I get all the jobs, and they go out and basically do all the manual labor,” Anthony says. “I work with the Bobcat® loader for about 10 hours a day.”
Anthony, who works from his wheelchair, uses Bobcat MaxControl remote operation to operate his Bobcat loader in all types of applications, particularly field mowing. Anthony credits Josh Forsythe, store manager at Bobcat of Redding (California), with introducing him to the MaxControl system, knowing Anthony would prefer as much accessibility and freedom as possible. And that freedom was enough to make Anthony quickly eliminate competitive loader choices — which included a brand he’d owned for almost 20 years — and choose Bobcat.
“The accessibility of MaxControl operation is just more freedom for me, and means not having to depend on anyone,” Anthony says. “And the hand controls are so smooth, with all the power you’d want from the loader.”
