Brandon Smart Medical-Win a Puppy

This is Brandon during one of his hospital stays where he had to have a Halo brace screwed into his scull in order to keep his neck in the correct position and to help support his neck muscles. Such a trooper!

Brandon was born 12 weeks early. While in the NICU he had a grade 4 brain bleed, he was diagnosed as having Cerebral Palsy with Spastic Quadriplegia.

Cerebral palsy is the name for a condition in which brain damage has disrupted normal muscle functioning. Spastic quadriplegia is the most serious and disabling form of Cerebral Palsy. Spastic quadriplegia affects the entire body. Spastic refers to the muscle stiffness which accompanies the condition. Quadri—comes from the Latin for four; it means that all four quadrants of the body are affected by spastic quadriplegia. Plegia comes from the Greek term for a form of paralysis.

Brandon has beaten the odds during his life. Brandon attends a regular school and attends classes with all of the other students. Brandon has the help of an ed tech and has worked hard to pass all of his classes! Brandon loves to participate in school activities and although he is unable to play sports he has been able to be manager of the high school soccer, basketball and baseball teams.

After a Scoliosis surgery in May of this year he suffered a complete dislocation of his neck at the T2 level. The dislocation compromised his spinal cord and now Brandon is completely paralyzed from mid chest down with no feeling at all. At this point Brandon is only able to attend school for half the day and the rest of his day is spent in bed or at doctors appointments.

This past summer Brandon had to spend 6 weeks at Boston Children's Hospital and upon returning home his family had to bring him to doctors appointments every single day traveling about 30 miles one way every single day to and from appointments. Brandon had to go back to the hospital inpatient recently due to on going issues from this past summer, he is expected to be there for some time with a possible trip back to Boston. All of these events have had a huge financial strain on Brandon's family and they are struggling to make ends meet. Brandon's family has been trying hard to keep Brandon's life as normal as possible but the financial strain of medical bills and other expenses have really been weighing on them. Even with medical insurance to cover most of the medical expenses their are still many out of pockets expenses as part of Brandon's daily care and appointments which have been very expensive.

Recently Due all of the expenses Brandon's family has incurred with him needing surgeries, round the clock care and having many appointments his family has fallen behind on bills while focusing on getting him the care that he needs. Brandon's mother was told by her job to choose between work or caring for her son which led to her having to give up her job. Brandon's family has fallen behind by $1800 on the handicap van that they use to get Brandon to and from doctors appointments and anywhere else they need to go, their monthly payment is $393 a month and they still owe $8000 on their van. Brandon's family had to buy a van that needed to be modified which cost between $10,000-$15,000, they have already paid close to $20,000 towards the van over the past 4 years! Brandon's family has also fallen behind on their mortgage by 2 months, their mortgage payment is $760 per month. Brandon's family could also use help with heating fuel for their home, gas for traveling to and from the hospital and money for food. No family should have to choose between medical care, heat or food and worry about losing the roof over their head or the transportation they rely on so heavily to get Brandon where he needs to go on a daily basis.

My husband works with Brandon's father and told our children and myself about Brandon. As a family we all decided we would like to raise money to help Brandon and his family in their time of need, we need your help in order to meet our goal. We would like to try and meet as much of our goal as possible by Christmas Eve in order to give Brandon and his family your gift on Christmas and to allow them to be able to celebrate the holiday together without the stress of their financial hardship and Brandon's medical condition weighing heavily on their minds while they try to figure out how they will put food on the table, keep their house warm and keep their handicap van in order to get Brandon to and from his appointments. We would like to be able to raise $8000 to pay the rest of the amount owed on Brandons handicap van to insure he will be able to get to and from doctors appointments and anywhere else he needs to go. We hope to raise at least $3,040 to get Brandon's family caught up on their mortgage and to help them pay for the next 2 months to alleviate some of the stress while they are back in the hospital going through another medical situation. We hope to raise around $1000 to pay for a tank of heating fuel for Brandons family to help them get through the winter in a warm home. Any other money we can raise beyond paying for the van, mortgage and heat we would like to give to Brandon's family to use towards food and travel expenses to and from the hospital. Lets show Brandon and his family that there are people out there who care about what he's going through and show him that miracles can happen when people come together to help someone in need.

If you can find it in your heart to donate any amount of money whether it be a small donation or a large donation I know that Brandon's family and Brandon will be very grateful. Imagine this was your child and you had the stress and worry of not only a sick child but the financial strain as well to deal with. Let's all help Brandon and his family so they can provide him with the most normal life possible.

As part of this fundraiser we would like to offer anyone donating $100 or more a chance to win a puppy that was born to our loving family pets (Mother Lab/Boxer-Father Dachshund Cairn Terrier), this is our way of giving something in appreciation for your help. We ask that if you would like a chance to win a puppy that you please send us an e-mail through the contact on the fundraiser and give us an introduction of who you are, where you live and why you would like to win a puppy. Please feel free to also ask any questions about the puppy that you may have through e-mailing us as well. We will choose a winner for the puppy the week of Christmas, if you live out of state we can discuss arrangements for getting a puppy to you if you send us an email. Please feel free to donate even if you're not interested in the chance to win a puppy. All donations are tax deductible with the receipt you will be e-mailed after your donation goes through.

If there are 41 people each day who are willing to donate $10 for the next 36 days we can meet our goal in time for the new year.
OR
If there are 17 people each day that are willing to donate $25 per day each day we can meet our goal in the next 36 days.
OR
With just 4 $100 donations per day each day for the next 36 days we will insure we can meet our goal to help Brandon and his family and we can give them a wonderful Christmas gift that will be a huge blessing in their lives.

Let's help Brandon and his family start the new year off on a better foot and with a few less things to worry about since they will have a lot to deal with in the coming year concerning Brandon's medical situation. Please share this with your family, friends, co workers or anyone you think may be interested in supporting this cause. Thank you for visiting this fundraiser, we appreciate you consideration in donating to Brandon.