A Special Needs Shower for Eliah

This is Eliah.  He is 9 years old.  He was born with severe hemophilia type A and a brain bleed which caused severe cerebral palsy and epilepsy.  He is in the 4th grade now and is thriving.  He has a slew of helpers- us, his grandparents, his sister, an aide at home and school, a nurse at school and on the bus, his teacher, and speech, physical, and occupational therapists who helps him with all his basic necessities.  He can’t sit up by himself, walk, or speak. He is not only medically fragile because of the hemophilia, but when he has a seizure, he stops breathing. Completely. We always have an oxygen tank on hand. 

Even though he has many challenges, he is a very happy boy with a mischievous demeanor, but in a fun way. He laughs anytime you say no if he is about to get in trouble... Like rolling towards this Christmas tree trying to pull off ornaments...lol. He can use his body language, roll, and "army" crawl.  He loves to feel wind in his face, and he loves to be included in activities like roller skating.

Another favorite thing is BATH TIME!  He absolutely LOVES water!  When he was small, we could put him in the tub and he could splash away- and it was even great therapy for him!  But now he has gotten so big, we have these challenges: he is very difficult to pick up and move around because of his size, and he is too long for the bathtub.  And it won’t get easier as he grows.  We have done some research on how other families have worked this out.  

We would love for him to have a bathing area that would be more Eliah friendly. We own an older home that was built in the early 60s that has 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom shared between 2 adults and 2 kids. Scheduling is everything! We have been doing a lot of renovations ourselves since we moved in December 2012.  We have no plans to move.

We need this house and this space for Eliah so we are looking into getting this funded through various social service agencies, as the bathroom is a little bit beyond our DIY skills. The quotes we have gotten for a bathroom have been in the $25,000 to $30,000 range. Eliah is on a waiver plan through Medicaid that will allow him a one-time home modification.  They will pay up to $7500, however, we have to split this amount with his mother per a court agreement (who already has a handicapped shower in her home) which only allows us to have $3250. It is a help, but not near enough.


What we need is a 5X8 roll-in shower room with a bathing trolley that actually allows Eliah to lay flat to be washed.  This shower room would work for him through adulthood.  The risk of injury to him or us as he grows makes this essential for US! His Dad and I both work to make ends meet, but we don’t have the extra cash to do this for Eliah.

Here's a link to the video of the bathing trolley.  http://www.surehands.com/#videos
And a photo of the cramped, unsafe tub we have today vs. the bathing trolley.

Additionally it would double as a changing/dressing table.  It is definitely something that would be used for his lifetime. 
 
We would greatly appreciate any help we could get to make Eliah's special needs shower/bath come true. If you are thinking of charitible giving , please think of Eliah's Shower.  And if you can't give, please share this link. Thank you!!!!  

Penny Honea, Eliah's friend