MATTOON, Ill. (WCIA) — A paralyzed man in Mattoon says he’s tired of accessibility problems at the train station.

Recently, Amtrak told him the elevator wasn’t working when he needed to get to an appointment… But a good Samaritan made sure he could make it.

Mattoon’s City Manager Kyle Gill saved the day and made sure everything was working properly to help 48-year-old Christopher Cunningham travel safely to Chicago. But the advocacy doesn’t stop here for Gill and Cunningham. They said the situation has brought up another conversation for the city to have with others.

“We need a handicapped infrastructure. It doesn’t have to match Chicago’s, but we need something that makes our sidewalks accessible to everybody,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham said he is tired of seeing a lack of ADA accessibility in the City of Mattoon.

“Make something better for the future. Yeah. Maybe they’ll create a walkway, crosswalk out at Walmart, name it after me,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham was in a car crash in 2006. He was left paralyzed from the neck down but still has the ability to wiggle his left arm. Earlier this month, he needed to take the train to get to his doctors appointment in Chicago. But because of the lack of access for him in the area, it was almost impossible.

The elevator at the Mattoon Train Depot, wasn’t working, and then he was going to have to board either Effingham or Champaign,” Gill said.

Gill said it was Amtrak who sent out the notice. He then went to the station himself to see what exactly the issues were.

“He called me from the train station hours later, told me the elevator is working. He met me at 4:30 in the morning, the following morning at the boarding platform to make sure that I arrived on time,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham said it was like a breath of fresh air seeing the city manager and first responders reach out and offer to lend a hand.

“We love to help. We try to find solutions, and it’s really just us knowing and being aware of the situation,” Gill said.

And for Cunningham, he couldn’t be more proud to live in a city who’s making strides to become an ADA accessible town.

“This guy, Kyle Gill, is on top of it. He ran through so many things with me, about upcoming projects and, incoming revenue that he had didn’t have to share. And it made me feel really good,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham is planning to write a proposal over the lack of accessibility in Mattoon and voice his concerns at the next city council meeting.

The city is spending nearly $300,000 on sidewalk replacements across town. There has not been an update on what could be done at the train station in the future.

An Amtrak spokesperson said the company owns the tracks and that the City of Mattoon is in charge of the building and surrounding parking lots.