Hello! My name is Kate and I want to tell you about my dear friend Chris. Chris was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in September 2020 after a several month long mystery of trying to find out what was going on inside of her body. In May of 2021, Chris had to retire from her job as a full-time teacher at a local Early Childhood Learning Center because of the effects ALS was taking on her body. By summer 2022, she had lost all function in her arms. As a result of this, she has had to have feeding assistance since October 2022. By November of the same year, the function in her legs had started to decrease. With her arms unable to catch her, and her leg function starting to go, Chris had officially become a fall risk. In April of 2023, she suffered a major fall, sustaining non-life threatening injuries, but it left the doctors with no choice but to have her require full-time wheelchair use. At this point in time, with the wheelchair she has access to, she is completely immobile, with small exceptions of extremely short distances where she must be assisted at all times. But there is good news to be found in all of this. When Chris was originally diagnosed, she was given a prognosis of 2-5 years. She is currently in year 3. But because she has been responding to treatments so well, doctors are now giving her 10 years! At 61 years old, I want to see Chris get every single year she can possibly get, and I want to make them as good of years as possible.

So why am I raising money? Because through the help of her insurance, Chris now has access to a fully motorized wheelchair, fully operational through a head control, making it perfectly accessible for her current condition. This will provide for her a freedom that she has long since felt was lost to her. It will give her the chance to go on walks with her grandkids, no longer having to watch them play from inside, and it will allow her to get back the control of her life that she deserves. Insurance is covering 80%, which is amazing, but that means she needs to come up with the remaining 20%. The portion she is expected to cover is going to be around $3,700. But you’re probably looking at my goal and wondering, “why are you asking for 10k?” I’m glad you asked! With a motorized wheelchair comes home improvements that must be made to accommodate the new wheels. Chris currently has a ramp but it isn’t to code and it needs to be re-done. The remaining $6,300 will go towards building a new ramp, labor, and all the materials. Anything left over will go towards improvements inside of the house to make it more ADA friendly and accessible for Chris’ new lifestyle.

Chris has already been receiving assistance through both the Federal and Michigan ALS Foundations, and while those resources have been a blessing, we need your help to get Chris mobile. I want to thank you for taking the time to read this, and for any consideration you make towards helping my dear friend get control of her life again. God Bless.