Hi! I'm Lyric. I love adaptive skating, para fencing, racing around campus with friends, singing, and drawing above all else. I'm nearly finished with my pre medical degree and am heading towards a Master's degree in prosthetics and orthotics. Some day, I'll go to med school to be a Physical Medical and Rehab doctor. 
 
Back to the present, I'm a high thoracic paraplegic from a rare spinal cord disorder called Tethered Cord Syndrome that shredded my spinal cord as I moved and left me completely dependent on my wheelchair. I'm paralyzed from the hips down and weak in between my hips and halfway up my ribs. This affects my ability to stand, of course, but also to hold myself upright in my wheelchair and even makes pushing myself difficult if my chair isn't tight to my hips. 
 
My wheelchair doesn't fit me, and that puts me at risk for life long complications along with the pain and interference with daily life I experience now. I need a new wheelchair to help keep my hips from dislocating daily, slow the developing arthritis in my back, and stop the slip and slide that comes from turning in a wheelchair that's too big. 
 
I have a connective tissue disorder as well, which caused the tethered cord. This affects the ability of my ligaments, tendons, and cartilage to protect my joint. Without control of my muscles, there's nothing left keeping the joints in my lower body in their places. 
 
This wheelchair has no properties to keep my joints in place for me, and I need one that does. My safest possible chair fits my width, snug to my hips to stabilize me. It is made of a material that reduces the shock from bumps that alone can dislocate my hips and ankles. It has a back that properly supports my lower back and hips, and it has push rims that make pushing without full control of my core as safe and painless as possible for my loose shoulders. My chair has none of this. 
 
Unfortunately, this chair is only 2 years old so my insurance will not pay for a better suited wheelchair. The features I need to stay safe aren't considered necessary by any private insurance. If they cover any of it, it will be a maximum of half of the cost. I need your help to stay safe in my daily life and continue being as active as I love to be! 
 
I'm asking for $8000, the full cost of the wheelchair, because there is no way to find out how much my insurance will pay until after I have the wheelchair and then I'm responsible for anything they don't cover. I've been told to expect they won't cover any of it. If they do, by some miracle, any extra funds would go directly towards further medical expenses such as custom braces to keep my ankles even safer and leftover costs from a recent hospitalization. 
 
I want to keep sled skating, I want to be active with my friends, and I want to race around campus at midnight down the hills getting fresh air during study breaks. I can't do that if I'm flinging around within my own chair tempting my unstable spine to further paralyze me or, even worse, hurt. 
 
We aren't raised to ask for help, and believe me I don't want to be, but the way my chair hurts me will only get worse. If you can help me, your money will go towards helping a disabled young adult keep all the freedom and independence I can ask I move through my education towards my goal of paying forward to others what my care team has been able to give to me. 
 
Thank you for your time, please consider sharing this with your friends and family so we can reach anyone who can help me reach my goal! I wish you the best.

Marilena Meni

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Allie Williams

Help Lyric Get a Life-Changing, Safer Wheelchair

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