Our Mom is a Paralytic Polio survivor.
In 1942, at the age of only 7 yrs old, our Mom contracted the Paralytic Polio virus. That turned her whole world upside down. She spent months in hospital care. Because Polio had directly affected her left leg, surgery was needed when she was 10 years old to shorten the right leg in an effort to equalize the length of both legs. It helped, but her left leg remained indefinitely shorter. Our Mom had to now learn to adapt to having a shorter leg for the rest of her life.
Fast forward to 1954 when she met and married our Dad. Soon after, the babies started coming and it didn’t stop until 6 of us were running around the house. As a kid, I remember the limp my Mom had from the shorter leg but that never slowed her down! She kept the home in order with homemade meals, laundry, cleaning, and helping with all our homework assignments.
In 1999 she began her retirement in Grass Valley, CA, at the home she affectionately called ‘The Cottage’ where she lived for 12 years, getting around with her cane. Eventually, the effects of Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS) were progressively having a greater impact on her mobility and she had to make the decision to move to a retirement community in Southern California.
You can learn more about Post-Polio Syndrome here.https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24584-post-polio-syndrome
Our Mom’s weakness has now progressed to the point of 100% dependency on caregivers and being confined to a lift-chair in her living room. Because she is no longer able to walk on her own, a transport-chair is now her only means of mobility.
Daily caregivers must fully assist in her bathroom duties, along with doing her clothing changes, laundry, weekly sponge baths, and meals.
Caregiving costs have drained every financial resource she has and has now strained what little resources the family has left.
We are trying to maintain daily caregiving through a home care agency at a cost to my Mom of $2200/month, with her income of only $2500/month, leaving very little to pay for her food, caregiving supplies, monthly bills, and utilities. Unfortunately, this type of service, in-home caregiving, is not covered by her Medicare insurance.
We are forever grateful for any help given toward our Mom’s care, knowing that she might just have a chance to live-out her life in the place she now calls home.
Video of Caregiver transferring our Mom from the Transport-Chair to the Lift-Chair for the night.