Help me keep my mother alive.

Mom was left a double amputee in 1985 from a terrible accident, and now, in 2013, needs help to walk again.

My mother Naomi, a young woman at the time, was hit by a car as she was walking home from work on a Friday in January, 1985; a horrific accident that severed both her legs. After a year of hard work, Mom walked, but now this incredibly brave person needs help to walk again after two grueling operations left her weakened, and me without funds to take care of her.

1985: My father stooped to pick up a penny after buying milk at the local 7-11, just as a man driving a car had a heart attack and died behind the wheel, careening into my parents, pushing them through the glass window of a beauty salon and taking my mother's legs. My father blamed himself - if only he hadn't reached for that penny, the car would have missed them. When I rushed to the hospital and saw my Mom without legs under the pitiful blanket, where legs should be, all she could say was, "Isn't life strange. It's so strange."

Anyone else would have died. My mother decided to stay, to be with all of us. How lucky we were : If you've met my Mom, you know she is the ultimate loving Mom we all wish we had.

Eleven months later, hearing her doctor whisper she would never walk, Mom left Rusk Institute "on my own two feet" (prosthetic legs), to the cheers of everyone.

Today: I need your help to pay the expenses to get Mom on her feet again.

Last Christmas Eve, Mom had emergency gall bladder surgery, then was left unable to walk or even stand due to hip arthritis that took a severe turn. After a month of being carried everywhere by round-the-clock aides, she had a hip replacement and returned to rehab. She eventually walked over 100 feet. All she wants to do is walk.

But at rehab, Mom suffered a pulmonary embolism and sadly, was diagnosed with the hospital-acquired infection c-difficile. She is now free from infection, but for the third time, lost her ability to walk during these terrible setbacks.

As caregiver, I used all the money we had for the necessary things to nurse her back to health "“ gloves, disinfectant towels, hand cleanser, aides to keep her showered, and ambulettes "“ ambulettes to go anywhere. Since she could not get up and down the steps to our building, she needed an ambulette to go even a few streets away to the doctor. They would carry her wheelchair up and down the steps. I would like to buy a ramp for her, but I don't have the funds. I need to buy a recliner for her so she doesn't have to sit in a wheelchair - her only chair - all day.

I need substantial help to catch up with Mom's bills (the aides alone cost over $16,000), and to keep her safe and secure in her own home. I still need disposable pads, gloves, cooling spray for the phantom pains in her legs, disinfectant wipes that prevent a recurrence of c-difficile, and to replace all her clothing and items she used during her illness.

Mom is doing better, and can now walk a little, even attempting the steps again. Please join me to get her back on her feet and walking. We can do this!