Help Charlotte raise money for a new wheelchair

I am not a stranger to people calling me damaged goods. To them thinking that I’m useless or can’t do anything. For a long time, I believed them as well and some days I still do. In fact, writing this is probably one of the hardest things I’ve done in a while. Putting a voice to your worst insecurities rips at the soul. The fact that I feel like a burden on others and that people look at me and think I am damaged tears me up.

I was injured when I was 10 years old, and it was an injury that altered my entire world. You know those defining moments that alter what your life is going to be like? One minute I was 10 years old heading to a freestyle wrestling tournament to beat up some boys again and the next I am waking up having 2 months pass by due to a coma I had been in and then being told that you’ll never use your legs again.

Paraplegic? At the time I’d never heard the word let alone knew what it was, but I was angry, regardless. We’d been in a car accident, hit black ice on the road. I was thrown from the vehicle and I was so small the damage I sustained would be life changing. I had to relearn everything. How to live my life without the aid of someone else – without being a burden. It was a hard transition, going from something I had always known, something that was second nature to learning how to do something that was hard and felt foreign, strange.

Despite my injury I became a mother, a wife, a good friend, and an employee. I work a fulfilling job as a 911 dispatcher helping the public and doing my best to keep my deputies safe. I live on my own without the help of an aid. However, those words lie in wait in the back of my head, just waiting for an opportunity to present themselves. Any time I need help from my friends or family be it financially or otherwise. Any time someone says it thinking the mean things they say won’t get back to me. That I am damaged or a burden because I can’t handle everything on my own. I’ve even had people tell others that I did these things to myself and deserved them, which of course got back to me. The worst part about it is that nobody would ever know or even suspect how much it hurts because of the smile on my face and the way I carry myself.

Due to my injury and wheelchairs that didn’t fit me the right way I’ve developed several wounds over the years that have required extensive surgeries to save my life. These wounds have caused me to go septic several times. My organs have shut down and they’ve even told my mom to prepare herself because they didn’t think I would pull through. These surgeries have taken me from my children, my family and friends, and my job.

Sadly, since my accident I’ve had to fight for things that I need to live a somewhat normal life. To be able to give my kids a normal life. I’ve had to fight so hard even when my wheelchair was broken and I was confined to a bed or couch, and the reason I’ve had to fight so hard has always been an insurance issue. They refuse to approve a new chair due to a pre-existing issue, or they want different parts on the chair, or the simply refuse to pay for it.

Because of the awful things I’ve had to endure and listen to people saying, I’m extremely stubborn and I hate asking for help, so this is very hard for me, but I’m currently stuck in the hospital due to a wound that my chair has given me again. Due to all the issues, I’ve had with insurance I’ve currently had the chair I’ve got for almost 10 years and any doctor will advise that wheelchairs should be replaced every 5 years. I’m currently in the hospital on FMLA with an injury that could have killed me again due to my chair. I can’t work because I must stay off my leg and can’t be in the chair that caused this issue, but I need to raise money for my wheelchair and to help with some of the bills like home health. So, I’m reaching out to my community, I’m begging you to help me. Help me get my new wheelchair so that I can get out of this bed and spend the time with my kids and go back to work. So that this doesn’t happen again. I want to be out there doing things not cooped up in my house. I want to be working. I need to be doing those things. So please, please help me and my family.

Until we come up with the funds they can’t start building the chair. If you can’t help please share my story. Thank you so much.