Medical expenses and travel cost
Donation protected
A quick introduction... My name is Ashlee. I am the lucky/blessed husband of Liz and proud dad of 4 amazing daughters (16, 14, 10, & 3) and 1 awesome son (20 months). Up until this past May, we were a normal American family trying to provide a comfortable life for our children. My wife owned her own business (a doggy daycare/boarding & grooming facility). Were very active in our church and community, along with doing some wildlife rescue when life permitted it. With me being disabled due to an auto accident years ago thus having to have neck & lower back surgery, my blessing of a wife had been the "strong" one in our family.
This all came to a screeching, life altering halt May 5th of 2015. To summarize what has happened, she started loosing feeling in her left shoulder which move down to her hand. A few days later no feeling down the left side of her body which after a week made it all the way to the tips of her toes. This also apparently done some sort of damage to her speech pattern because she went from a very bright, articulate speaking lady to someone with a severe stutter. Basically, this left her body feeling split down the center with no feeling on her left yet sensation on her right. Moving forward a couple weeks this "numbness" progressed to her right side and that's when her body started to go even more haywire. Her entire body would (and still does) shake as if she would have Parkinson's. (Sometimes so severe it's as if she is having a seizure) By this time she was relying totally on a walker to get around. Conditions worsened and thus she now relies upon a motorized wheelchair to get around. So far there is no actual diagnosis as to why her body is acting the way it is but we do have a "finding" of Limbic Encephalitis. (You can research this and see how rare it is and what horrible things happen to someone who is unfortunate to come down with it.) It has shown up on 2 MRI scans of her brain through a radiologist reading the results but because a certain (un-named) hospital's neurological department (that is supposed to be the best in this state) refuse to accept the findings that show up on 2 separate MRI's taken from different facilities we cannot get a diagnosis for further treatment in this state. The only diagnosis they would give is that she has a mental disorder and would best be treated by a psychiatrist. Of course after filling for disability, she was directed to a psychiatrist for evaluation and in less than 5 minutes he said that the appointment was a waste of his and my wife's time because in all his 30+ years of practice, he's never seen a patient who has her symptoms stemmed from a psychiatric problem. He also said he strongly feels that she does in fact have a physiological issue/s that need someone to open their eyes and treat her accordingly.
With all that said, we need a vehicle that can hold a minimum of 7 passengers with a wheelchair lift so that I can get my wife to other doctors out of state as often as it takes till we find the one who is willing to treat her properly and get to the bottom of this issue. My wife needs her body back. Our children need their momma back. I need my bride back.
So, not only am I trying to raise money for the vehicle itself, but also for travel expenses (gas, maintenance, lodging, toll fees, parking fees, etc.) Once my wife is better and we no longer need this vehicle, we would like to find the right person and possibly pass it on to them.
This has been very hard for me to do, not only because of the emotional part, but because we are not used to being the ones asking for help. We are usually the ones joyfully providing it. Regardless of what happens, I know God has a reason for this and he is in full control and I thank him every day that I at least get to have another day with her.
May God bless each and everyone of ya'll.....
This all came to a screeching, life altering halt May 5th of 2015. To summarize what has happened, she started loosing feeling in her left shoulder which move down to her hand. A few days later no feeling down the left side of her body which after a week made it all the way to the tips of her toes. This also apparently done some sort of damage to her speech pattern because she went from a very bright, articulate speaking lady to someone with a severe stutter. Basically, this left her body feeling split down the center with no feeling on her left yet sensation on her right. Moving forward a couple weeks this "numbness" progressed to her right side and that's when her body started to go even more haywire. Her entire body would (and still does) shake as if she would have Parkinson's. (Sometimes so severe it's as if she is having a seizure) By this time she was relying totally on a walker to get around. Conditions worsened and thus she now relies upon a motorized wheelchair to get around. So far there is no actual diagnosis as to why her body is acting the way it is but we do have a "finding" of Limbic Encephalitis. (You can research this and see how rare it is and what horrible things happen to someone who is unfortunate to come down with it.) It has shown up on 2 MRI scans of her brain through a radiologist reading the results but because a certain (un-named) hospital's neurological department (that is supposed to be the best in this state) refuse to accept the findings that show up on 2 separate MRI's taken from different facilities we cannot get a diagnosis for further treatment in this state. The only diagnosis they would give is that she has a mental disorder and would best be treated by a psychiatrist. Of course after filling for disability, she was directed to a psychiatrist for evaluation and in less than 5 minutes he said that the appointment was a waste of his and my wife's time because in all his 30+ years of practice, he's never seen a patient who has her symptoms stemmed from a psychiatric problem. He also said he strongly feels that she does in fact have a physiological issue/s that need someone to open their eyes and treat her accordingly.
With all that said, we need a vehicle that can hold a minimum of 7 passengers with a wheelchair lift so that I can get my wife to other doctors out of state as often as it takes till we find the one who is willing to treat her properly and get to the bottom of this issue. My wife needs her body back. Our children need their momma back. I need my bride back.
So, not only am I trying to raise money for the vehicle itself, but also for travel expenses (gas, maintenance, lodging, toll fees, parking fees, etc.) Once my wife is better and we no longer need this vehicle, we would like to find the right person and possibly pass it on to them.
This has been very hard for me to do, not only because of the emotional part, but because we are not used to being the ones asking for help. We are usually the ones joyfully providing it. Regardless of what happens, I know God has a reason for this and he is in full control and I thank him every day that I at least get to have another day with her.
May God bless each and everyone of ya'll.....
Organizer
Ashlee J LeMaire
Organizer
Russellville, AR
