Empower Ryley's Future with a Special Needs Car

Hi, my name is Norma Simpson and I am asking you to please help a paraplegic girl get a special needs car. My granddaughter's name is Ryley. She is 18 years old and just graduated from high school. When she was 12, she played hockey on an all-boys team except her, and they won the championship that year. She loves the sport. Sadly, just a few months later, a virus attacked her spine and left her paralyzed from the waist down. It was something that we had never heard of: transverse myelitis. She spent a month in the hospital and another month in rehab, relearning the basics of life, including how to even sit up. She also had to learn how to take care of her body because this affects more than her legs. Just last year, she had to have surgery for a pressure sore that wouldn’t heal, even after many months of PICC lines, medication, and laying on her stomach. She has developed another pressure sore and is currently undergoing another PICC line and medication. We hope that she won’t have to undergo surgery again. Through all of this, she has kept an amazingly positive attitude. She has taught herself pencil art and playing the guitar, and she’s very good at both. She has a 3.45 GPA and is hoping to go to community college in the fall, but she has not received any scholarships and will have to take out loans and work. Her medical condition is very expensive, and she will need a good job to be able to support herself in the future and live independently, so college is a must for her. She just got her driver’s license by using a special-needs driver’s training program. Texas Workforce will pay for the driving equipment that goes on the steering wheel after the trainer tells them what works best for her, but it is highly unlikely that they would pay for a ramp for her wheelchair to go into the car. Her trainer has said that she is not physically able to pick up her wheelchair to put it in the car due to the weight of her chair, so a ramp in her vehicle is vital. I have looked at several different sites that offer special equipment, and reliable used vehicles that she could use range between $58,000 and $65,000. I, her grandmother, am on a fixed income and barely make ends meet, and her parents both work full-time jobs and spend everything they make on living expenses and Ryley’s medical expenses, so again, I am asking you to please help Ryley get a car. It means so much for her future and her independence. No amount is too small, and we are so grateful for any help that you can give. Thank you so much.