Victoria’s Journey to Walking
Donation protected
Victoria was looking forward to her Christmas break, and over one weekend, her world changed drastically. She went from a teacher anticipating the holiday to refresh and rejuvenate for the next semester to a quadriplegic with an incomplete spinal cord injury.
Today, Victoria is paralyzed from the neck down, and she relies on a power wheelchair for her mobility. On December 1, 2019, she was in a single car roll over accident and was ejected through the windshield nearly 40 feet from the vehicle. She sustained a broken neck, a broken back, her left femur(thigh bone) was fractured along with her left hip, and all ligaments torn in her right knee. The only thing Victoria remembers from the accident is realizing she was being airlifted and thinking to herself she must be hurt pretty bad if a helicopter was needed to transport her to the hospital.
Victoria‘s initial assessment was not too far off. The outlook was pretty grim in the beginning. She underwent six surgeries, and she stayed in the hospital roughly seven months from December 2019 to July 2020. First stay was at a level one trauma unit. The second stay was at Shepherd Center in Atlanta. The level of therapy she received here was phenomenal and she is trying desperately to return for more on Victoria’s Journey to Walking Again.
My mother knows spinal cord injuries are unpredictable. This does not seem to deter her. She has coined this journey as her faith walk, because she told me all you need is the faith of a mustard seed for endless possibilities and she has enough faith for the both of us. This journey however is not going to be a cakewalk, but it is imperative she gain independence and move forward in life.
She has all intentions of returning to her students . Not being in the classroom this school year has been a hard pill to swallow for Victoria, because she misses it! I know in due time she will return. Although in the immediate future, I need her to focus on rehabilitation therapy, but it is hard for her to focus when there are essential items needed that cannot be afforded.
To summarize her needs, Victoria does not have: -a wheelchair accessible van to get into her community, -a manual wheelchair to get to places that are not accessible to a power wheelchair, -and some home modifications that will provide the simple luxuries in life such as entering the bathroom to take a proper shower or entering her children's bedrooms to help with homework. The goal is to increase her level of independence as time goes on. At the present time, the lack of a wheelchair accessible van, a manual wheelchair, and some home modifications are keeping her stagnant. This van will get her to and from therapy and doctors appointments. This van will also allow our family to get back into the community and do the things we did pre-injury like her daughter’s lacrosse and her sons’ baseball. This would be priceless. Every place although ADA compliant is not truly accessible to a power wheelchair. This is where a manual wheelchair is needed. Some places, especially older places, do not have doorways wide enough. Some places you enter do not have lowered curbsides or some places have stairs at the entryway which makes a manual wheelchair more ideal. The home modifications are needed because she cannot access so many rooms in the home. She is unable to enter the kitchen , bedrooms, and bathrooms, because there are narrow entry ways. If Victoria could just get some of these items off her list worries, she could truly focus on her Journey to Walking Again.
With gratitude,
Kayleigh M.
on behalf of Victoria M.
Today, Victoria is paralyzed from the neck down, and she relies on a power wheelchair for her mobility. On December 1, 2019, she was in a single car roll over accident and was ejected through the windshield nearly 40 feet from the vehicle. She sustained a broken neck, a broken back, her left femur(thigh bone) was fractured along with her left hip, and all ligaments torn in her right knee. The only thing Victoria remembers from the accident is realizing she was being airlifted and thinking to herself she must be hurt pretty bad if a helicopter was needed to transport her to the hospital.
Victoria‘s initial assessment was not too far off. The outlook was pretty grim in the beginning. She underwent six surgeries, and she stayed in the hospital roughly seven months from December 2019 to July 2020. First stay was at a level one trauma unit. The second stay was at Shepherd Center in Atlanta. The level of therapy she received here was phenomenal and she is trying desperately to return for more on Victoria’s Journey to Walking Again.
My mother knows spinal cord injuries are unpredictable. This does not seem to deter her. She has coined this journey as her faith walk, because she told me all you need is the faith of a mustard seed for endless possibilities and she has enough faith for the both of us. This journey however is not going to be a cakewalk, but it is imperative she gain independence and move forward in life.
She has all intentions of returning to her students . Not being in the classroom this school year has been a hard pill to swallow for Victoria, because she misses it! I know in due time she will return. Although in the immediate future, I need her to focus on rehabilitation therapy, but it is hard for her to focus when there are essential items needed that cannot be afforded.
To summarize her needs, Victoria does not have: -a wheelchair accessible van to get into her community, -a manual wheelchair to get to places that are not accessible to a power wheelchair, -and some home modifications that will provide the simple luxuries in life such as entering the bathroom to take a proper shower or entering her children's bedrooms to help with homework. The goal is to increase her level of independence as time goes on. At the present time, the lack of a wheelchair accessible van, a manual wheelchair, and some home modifications are keeping her stagnant. This van will get her to and from therapy and doctors appointments. This van will also allow our family to get back into the community and do the things we did pre-injury like her daughter’s lacrosse and her sons’ baseball. This would be priceless. Every place although ADA compliant is not truly accessible to a power wheelchair. This is where a manual wheelchair is needed. Some places, especially older places, do not have doorways wide enough. Some places you enter do not have lowered curbsides or some places have stairs at the entryway which makes a manual wheelchair more ideal. The home modifications are needed because she cannot access so many rooms in the home. She is unable to enter the kitchen , bedrooms, and bathrooms, because there are narrow entry ways. If Victoria could just get some of these items off her list worries, she could truly focus on her Journey to Walking Again.
With gratitude,
Kayleigh M.
on behalf of Victoria M.
Organizer and beneficiary
Kayleigh Moore
Organizer
Duluth, GA
Victorua Moore
Beneficiary