Hello! I am Stephanie, Ariana’s mother, coming to you humbled and pride-less to ask for help for the down payment for a used van equipped for the weight of a power wheelchair. We are asking that during this time you consider sharing or donating to our cause to help Ariana gain independence and mobility with a wheelchair-accessible van. Ariana has a manual wheelchair and also a roofing activity chair that stays in the house that she uses as well. The next appointment we go to we will have to decide if we want a power chair or to stick with a manual chair. The issue is that we have a sedan car. Her manual wheelchair at the moment doesn’t even fit in the trunk. We have to put it in the backseat so as she gets bigger and craves more independence, it is only right. She needs a power chair to go where she wants and not feel like she is stuck in one spot, which, in the last week she has said twice to me which broke my heart. Because she’s never stuck in her wheelchair.. her father and I are her legs.

We actually were donated a power wheelchair from a very beautiful family that their son how grew. It is a little big for Ariana but we’ve adjusted everything up as short as everything can go and although it is not ideal, it is just for now and she will get to pick out her own as long as we have the vehicle to transport it because otherwise she would just be stuck at home with it and wouldn’t be able to go to Girl Scout meetings, and events,, doctors appointments,, outside therapies, besides school,birthday parties, parks tubing, camping all of the things we love to do. The power chair we were donated the love in my heart, watching her cruise around the backyard and up the street to the store into the park was just amazing watching her dream and so happy that she could just push a joystick and go where she wanted to go she didn’t have to wait for someone to come and push her there. It’s just brought her so much independence so much happiness and I seen it completely different child start to emerge. But then one day the joystick broke and it can be fixed but because it was donated to us and we didn’t get it through our insurance it’s $750 to get fixed which we could pay in two payments the second half one it is done. She access us all the time when it will be fixed and what we are going to get a bigger vehicle like her friend has so she can be more independent and drive a power wheelchair and we keep promising her soon soon, but we just can’t seem to be able to do it alone. They are a lot more expensive I think than anyone realizes you can look it u. So the money would be used for the down payment because we’ve already looked into it at all and then we would have to pull alone for the rest of the vans worth, and it would be all equipped for the power chair just to drive up in there and lock her wheels in and shut the door and go no more lifting. The 750 would be to fix the joystick in the donated one now as she will be using that for the next year and a half until she’s ready for her own power chair. Insurance only covers it once they’ve pretty much outgrown their wheelchair and they had enough practicing it that they can drive it without hurting themselves or someone else which she’s very good at driving it because she had months of driving it all around the backyard in the house before the joystick broke.

SoAriana Rose is an 9 year old girl..besides her physical limitations due to moderate spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, she is your typical 9 year old-Smart, girly, kind, thoughtful and sassy. She is in 4th grade and loves learning. She is a social butterfly and her nickname at school is smiley. She never lets her disability affect her. She doesn’t realize 100% that she’s disabled. She thinks she can do everything everyone else can that she can just in a different way or it might look different. She has a go get it attitude and never gives up and always keeps trying. She is her father and eyes only child, our miracle girl. She is the apple of all of our family and friends. I knew there was a reason God gave her to us. She is so special. She will never truly understand how much she means to us.

For a little backstory….

Ariana was born at 29 weeks due to placenta abruption. She was only 2 pounds and 12 ounces. Because of that, at five weeks old, she was diagnosed with a condition called spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. Being the most severe form of CP, it affects all four of her limbs and her trunk. She gets very tight and stiff muscles all throughout her body. It also affects her nervous system, which, as a result, affects movement, learning, hearing, seeing, and thinking. Therefore, Ariana cannot sit unassisted, stand, or walk, requiring a wheelchair.

Long story short, Ariana has been faced with adversity since birth and has a “never give up” attitude. She truly lights up every room she walks into and and even was inspired by the family that donated her the power wheelchair to start cerebral palsy awareness day in March and got to speak and had a friend help her read her letter because the kid is in high school and he does it at his school. And at nine years old, she was inspired to start it at her elementary school. I know she’s going to go on to do big things! she can be anything she wants to be! more than anything She wants to be a veterinarian. She loves animals and always thinks of others first so I can completely picture her doing that.

So, to ensure we support her mobility and independence as much as possible, the only barrier we have hit is being able to get a wheelchair-accessible van that can accommodate her needs, where she would be able to ride her chair right into it, lock it in, and off we go to our next adventure. We love being out everywhere and always. Ariana wants to go and see .

wheelchair-accessible vans are very expensive, there are all different types, and there are used ones. That is the route we are going, but besides what we have already been saving and what we will continue to save, any additional help would be greatly appreciated. Even a share so it can be shared and get more people to see it would be so greatly appreciated.

Thank you, God Bless Love, Ariana‘s mother, and father.

Any additional help, whether a donation, which on its own is so greatly appreciated, or additional shares that only take a minute but mean the world to us.

Please trust me when I say we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I can’t wait to the day I can go to her and say Ariana we did it as a community. We’re gonna get the van and your joystick fixed! let’s try to get her a “miracle” of freedom, inclusion, and mobility to go wherever she wants to go! ❤️

#LetsHelpAriana