Help Ania get a new Wheelchair

Ania is in need of a new wheelchair, as insurance only covers enough to get the lowest costing chair, resulting in her being very uncomfortable and unable to function properly in her every day life, the way she could if she were in a wheelchair better suited for her body. The wheelchair that she needs would have a start cost of 6000$ USD and upwards of 8,000$. Please help up raise the money to get Ania the wheelchair that she deserves. Read below for her story.


I was 23. I’ve lived on my own since right after high school. I did the best I could to support myself and my puppies. ‘I can’t wait to move out, make my own rules, and have my own space.’ I had a lot of friends and a lot of boys chasing me. I attended a lot of parties and took a lot of road trips. I was living my best life. I was young and wild, thinking, ‘Who’s going to stop me? Eventually, I’ll grow out of it, right?’ I didn’t get that chance. I was kind of forced into it.

I had plummeted three stories from my apartment balcony because it swayed and I had no time to react and catch my balance or realize what was happening. By the time I did realize what was going on and my hand grazed the railing as I tried to catch myself, it was too late. I went into complete shock. This wasn’t just a small tumble. It was a high drop and I knew it wasn’t going to be just a couple cuts and bruises. I blacked out. I don’t remember flipping over and hitting the ground. I don’t remember the ambulance, the cops, or air care at the scene. I don’t remember two of my friends making phone calls, pleading for my family to answer, in so much shock, and terrified because I wasn’t breathing. I had hit the ground so hard, I had managed to sever my spine and spinal cord completely through. You could probably fold me like a white picnic table and then some.


Courtesy of Anna Janaszek
No one really knew the extent of my injuries, they just knew I needed medical attention, and fast. Upon arriving at UC, I was admitted into surgery right away. As my spinal surgeon explained, my spine was mush. I’d be lucky to be stabilized and wake up with full function. I didn’t just sever my spine and spinal cord in the T5 area, which was going to result in paralysis for the rest of my life. I also managed to break six ribs on my right side, six on my left, collapse my right lung, and fracture my right scapula. I was broken in many places. Because of all my injuries, they put me into a medically induced coma, which as stubborn and persistent as I am, I fought. So after 3 days of ripping IVs and my incubator out, they figured I’d cause less damage to myself being awake, which resulted in a lot of drugs.


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I couldn’t feel a thing from my neck down. I couldn’t remember…had I been in a car wreck? The last thing I remember was heading home to the pups. What was even stranger was I didn’t question much as to why I was there. I was kind of just chilling, wondering when I would be able to go home. For almost two weeks, no one had the heart to tell me what my life was going to look like from here on out. I don’t blame them. How do you tell your daughter, sister or your best friend she won’t ever be able to walk again? But when they did, I didn’t really react to it. I was emotional, but I didn’t understand. I just kept thinking, ‘Ehh, I’ll be alright. They don’t know what they’re talking about. This couldn’t have happened to me.’ I didn’t accept it or grieve it, I just kind of cried and swept it under the rug. During the next few weeks, the lower the medication dosage got, the more painful life got. They were preparing me for therapy but little did I know they were preparing me for how life would be.

I was a newborn again. Everything I had learned or everything I did to get things done, even as simple as brushing my hair or my teeth, I’d have to re-learn all over again. It was going to be a tough two months, but I wanted to get it over with so that I could go home and be normal again. Every day, I learned something new. I learned about making gravity work with you, not against you. I learned what dead weight felt like. This body wasn’t just new to me, it was new to everyone who was close to me. We were all learning. Patience was thin but we pushed.

For two months, I learned new ways to use my lungs. To cough, to sneeze and scream. I learned how to get dressed. I learned everything a child does growing up, all over again. I’d get frustrated and take it out on anyone near me.