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Help Elva fight ALS!

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My name is Maria Alicia Lopez Freeman and it is with a heavy heart that I am creating this page in hopes of helping my dear friend Elva Miller.  

Elva and I have known one another and been best friends since we first met in high school many years ago.  We taught together in various high schools in Los Angeles and maintained a deep and enduring friendship throughout the years. She worked as a teacher and principal in high schools in LAUSD for 39 years and was president of the Principals Association. She was an excellent administrator, devoted to her students and ever an advocate for pathways that enable their success in life. She retired for Los Angeles Unified School District after almost 40 years of service to her students. Not knowing what the future might bring, she has paid for long-term care insurance throughout her retirement. She assumed she had done what was needed to take care of her medical needs and cost should a chronic illness befall her.

In January of this year, Elva was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). The disease has progressed very rapidly. From a vibrant and energetic woman in November 2017, she now finds herself in need of 3 daily caregivers who help her with all activities of daily living. She is not able to walk, can no longer get up from a chair without help, uses a gastric feeding tube and must be in wheel chair to leave her apartment, These last seven months have seen her ability to speak deteriorate to the degree that she now uses a DynaVox to communicate with caregivers and friends.  She will soon need a special electric wheel chair with mounts for a DynaVox. While many costs are covered through insurances, there is still a significant amount that is out of pocket and that is needed. Currently her pension provides for the regular cost of maintaining her home and part of the cost of the caregivers.

She needs our help to make her life a lot easier. Thoughts and prayers are certainly appreciated and needed. Any size donation/contribution will also be appreciated. And if you can’t donate, please spread the word! Elva has been generous and selfless with her students and friends throughout her life so now the least we can do to help her in this tough time. Elva is in a desperate situation and needs all of our support.
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Donations 

  • Jon Drake
    • $500
    • 6 yrs
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Fundraising team: Elva's Friends and Family (2)

Roberto Freeman
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Celice Eldred
Team member

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