Chairlift and Medical Expenses

Dear Friends, Family, & Community,

On Tuesday, April 27th I will have surgery on my left ankle for the 8th time to deal with a severe, potentially life-threatening infection. As many of you know, due to life-long health issues that began in childhood, I have kidney failure and related problems such as being very prone to infection because of the anti-rejection drugs I take for my currently failing transplanted kidney that I have had for an exceptional amount of time for a transplanted organ, 26 years. The surgery will debride and remove the infection from my ankle, removing hardware that has been in place since my initial ankle fracture in 2015. Afterward, I will need to use a wheelchair for at least a month, if not longer. To get into and out of my house, I will need a temporary ramp installed on the front stairs of the house. I’ve had a company do the measurements and the cost is $480. I was able to cover this expense through my HSA account, I have the funds for the ramp but not for an additional need that I have.

With all of these ankle issues and general weakness and tiredness from my kidney issues, it has become more and more difficult to make it up the stairs of my house, even when I can bear weight on my left ankle. The simplest and most affordable solution to this problem is to put a chairlift on the stairs. I am humbly asking for support to cover this expense. This would allow me to get up to the second floor of my house where the most accessible shower is located. While I can likely figure out shower access in other ways, having access to the shower in my own home immediately would make my recovery immeasurably easier.

Thank you SO much for considering helping me out with this! A chairlift would make my life much easier and safer in an ongoing way. For the past 2-3 years, negotiating stairs has been an exhausting and sometimes frankly terrifying experience for me. I get out of breath before the top because of anemia and asthma issues, am exhausted and need to rest immediately after walking up the steps and feel affected afterward. I structure my life around having to make the fewest amount of trips up and down the steps possible. I am expecting to get a kidney transplant in the near term, I need to lose weight to qualify to receive a transplant, am currently working on that with the help of some medication, and that will also be a time when I will have even greater difficulty with stairs. I am going to be moving my bed onto the first floor for the duration of the ankle surgery recovery. The initial installation cost for a lease-to-own chairlift is $875, and the lease price is $325 per month after that. After one year, I would own the chairlift. I am starting by asking for $1,800 to cover the initial installation and the first few months of the lease. If this goal is reached, I may up the goal to cover more time and update this fundraiser in the future. I am hopeful that I can save money to pay for future months myself, but know from experience that it is likely that other unexpected health costs will arise that I’ll need to address, so I’m trying to think ahead.