Christy's Chair Lift

Hi, my name is Steve Mansfield. I am Christy’s husband.

Christy is a 42-year-old woman who from the time I met her, is the best person that I know. She is a very loving and compassionate person with a heart of gold. She would give the clothes off her back to help someone in need and she is always there to help, listen, or cry with anyone she meets.

In 2003 she was diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis). It started off as numbness in her hands and progressed to the legs. She has been on several of the medicines to try to stop the progression of this terrible disease.  From 2003 until this year, she was keeping it in check with medications.  In 2021, she went for her yearly MRI and they found 2 new lesions; 1 on her brain and 1 on her spinal cord. Her neurologist put her on a different medication which went from a once-a-day pill to an infusion 2 times a year. The draw back of this was that she had to wait 6 months before she could take her first infusion.

In June of 2021 she had to be hospitalized for 3 days, due to a flair up. Shortly after we got her home she broke 3 bones in her foot trying to walk up the stairs. One of the problems associated with her MS is that she has what is called “foot drop'' where she cannot plant her foot correctly. While trying to recover from that injury, she began to develop spasms in her right leg, from her foot all the way up to her hip. On top of the spasms she is also suffering from spasticity in that leg. She lives in constant pain. Then, In late November she was walking down the stairs when her left foot slipped and because she must wear a boot to make her foot more stable, it got stuck on a stair and caused her to fall again, breaking her fibula right below her knee. We have seen several doctors in our area to try to find out what the problem is with no luck. We now have an appointment with the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ to try to figure out what the problem is, and to find out if this is a permanent issue for Christy.

 

The reason for the story is to give a background on why and what it is we are asking for. We have a 2-story house that has 2 sets of stairs. The stairs have become too dangerous for her to continue to try and navigate on a daily basis. We need to have a curved stair lift professionally installed so that she can go up and down the stairs safely. Right now, she is having to crawl up and down the stairs which causes even more pain than she is already experiencing.

With all of the medical bills and now that she has been placed on short term disability with the possibility that it will evolve into permanence, it is most likely that she will not be able to return to work. Her symptoms of MS are only continuing to worsen, and our medical insurance will not cover the cost for a chair lift. Since we are not able to afford something like this for her we are left with asking for people’s generosity so that we can make our stairs a safe place and give her back some independence that she has lost because of what is happening.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

May God bless you

Sincerely,

Steve & Christy Mansfield