Davine's ALS Medical Fund

Please help us to raise money to assist with the care of my mother, Davine Nelson, who has been diagnosed with ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease. For those of you who know my mother, she has always been a vibrant and active woman, who played golf, traveled, and above all was very involved in ours and our children's lives.
Since being diagnosed with ALS, she has become very weak and is now confined to a wheelchair and can no longer use her legs, not even to stand and dress herself or get in and out of the car. With this debilitating disease comes the loss of the use of your muscles. Eventually she will no longer have the use of her arms, will not be able to speak or swallow, and breathing will become more and more difficult.
We are trying to raise money to help with the renovation of part of my brother's house, enabling it to be handicap accessible. This will require some major construction as a ramp will need to be installed , a handicap accessible bathroom, along with additional pieces of equipment to care for her, many of which are not covered by Medicare. We will also need to purchase a handicap van so that we can transport her in her wheelchair. Although we will be able to offset some of the cost with the sale of her car, handicap vans, even used ones, run upwards of $20k-$30k. As you can imagine many of the home health equipment are quite costly. Eventually we will have to hire a fulltime Home Healthcare assistant to care for her once her condition requires it. many of you may not be aware of this but Medcare does not pay for much of the costs of home healthcare since her condition is not considered rehabilatative. We are trying to allow her to live out the remainder of her time here with us in as much comfort and with as little added stress as possible. After all, shouldn't everyone be afforded that small luxury when they know that their life will be shortened by a disease that has no cure?
I never realized before this happened to my mother how difficult this world is to live in when you are in a wheelchair. Just little things that we all take for granted have become so difficult that it's easier to give up on enjoying much that life has to offer than to fight harder to do them. I keep encouraging her to go out and do as much as her body will allow her to but she's always putting everyone else's well being first, not wanting to burden us. With the right equipment, many of these tasks will be made easier for her to accomplish and some of them without assistance from us, allowing her to feel more independent and giving her a little more dignity.
The doctor's say that she has 2-5 years left with us, but maybe with your help in providing the adaptible equipment for her, she will prove them wrong and live 10, 15, even 20 years like some of the other patients with ALS have. We want her to be around to watch her grandchildren grow and be able to enjoy spending as much time with us as she possibly can.
For those of you that would like to know more about this disease please do some research. I encourage your to check out the websites of the following football players who are suffering from ALS and hear their stories of courage:
O.J. Brigance from the Baltimore Ravens and
Steve Gleason from the New Orlean Saints.
Their stories will truly inspire you.
If you can donate, even a small amount, please do so. No amount is too little and every penny willl be spent on the items that are needed for my mother. Thank you for your generosity and help in making this possible for her. We love you all and may God bless you and your families.