My name is Arlene Gillman.  Aris Gomez and my son, Austin, have been best friends since kindergarten.  Here is Aris' story:
November 9, 2013 was a day that forever changed the life of an amazing young man and his single mom, Vanessa Rodriguez.  Aris Gomez was a 15 year old honor student in 10th grade when he suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. Since the age of 12 he was very active with his local volunteer fire department. He attended weekly training drills preparing for the day he would be old enough to be a probationary firefighter. Unfortunately, he was struck ill 4 months before his dream would come true.
The aneurysm was massive, the largest the neurosurgeon has ever seen. During an extensive emergency surgery the damaged portion of his brain was removed and seven aneurysm clips were applied. 1/5 of the aneurysm couldn't be removed. It is being monitored and Aris will eventually need surgery to correct it. He was not expected to survive the night and is our miracle. He spent 4 weeks in the pediatric intensive care unit in a medically induced coma to allow the swelling in his brain to go down. During this time he had several procedures to put a permanent shunt in his head, a tracheotomy and a g-tube (feeding tube).
Once stable he was transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation hospital where he spent 4 months. During this time the tracheotomy and g-tube were removed and he returned to the children's hospital for surgery to replace the portion of his skull and add titanium. Aris has been attending school and outpatient rehabilitation at a pediatric hospital since March, 2014. The aneurysm affected the portion of his brain responsible speech, reading, writing, as well as movement of his right side. Aris is learning to use his left hand to write and feed himself. He still doesn't have use of his right side and remains in a wheelchair. Now, at 18 years old, Aris has a motorized wheelchair. This has given him a great sense of independence. As previously mentioned his mom is a single mom. Aris is a 6 foot tall young man who towers over his mom. Currently, for them to go anywhere they need to use the folding wheelchair and his mom's car. She has a bad back and cannot transfer him on her own. They cannot go anywhere without help. This is a huge set back to their independence. A handicapped accessible van would be life changing for both Aris and his mom.  
As you may remember,  Vanessa recently entered a contest to win a wheelchair accessible van.  She made it to the finals, but unfortunately did not win.   Renting one of these vans for special occasions is very expensive.   Please donate whatever you can, no amount is too small!!   Let's get them this much needed van!