Help Gary's Dream: Travel Before Parkinson's Wins

I have been struggling with feelings of guilt for asking for money. I’m just not the kind of person that asks for help. I’m a huge giver and I thrive on taking care of others. The reason I’m asking for help now is because my husband and I have always wanted to travel. As soon as Carter (our son) graduates we’d say we’ll do some traveling but life always seemed to serve us up some new challenge. Carter graduated last year and we weren’t financially ready and on top of that Carter is autistic and I’ve spent over a year getting him adult services and working on social security which we still are working on. I came on here asking for help to take my husband traveling this year because while in rehab the therapists have told me it’s time to start preparing myself for the worst. Hearing that I realized we can’t wait anymore! But again we’re not financially able to do it on our own. If we can get the camper and register it— we can handle it from there. I’ve been looking at class C and A RV’s on Facebook marketplace. I’ve found quite a few nice ones that are ready to go for only 10- 14,000.00. Any money that is donated will be used to buy the camper and register it! I appreciate you all!

Hello, my husband Gary was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 10 years ago at the age of 49 after suffering a stroke while working at Pratt and Whitney, where he worked for 29 years. After a few years of working with the disease, he was forced to take early retirement. As the years have gone on, he’s gotten progressively worse, losing the ability to walk unassisted, go to the bathroom, shower, or even have a conversation that makes sense. Parkinson’s disease affects the brain and slowly takes everything from you. My husband has his most lucid moments in the morning, but by evening his Parkinson’s induced dementia kicks in and all bets are off. He hallucinates, becomes agitated, and confused.

I’m on here today because I want a chance to take him traveling before this disease takes everything from us and he’s no longer lucid or functioning at all. We’re currently in a rehab facility after a 1-week hospital stay after he sustained an injury from a fall. In this setting, I’ve learned that we are in the end stages of Parkinson’s and I need to prepare for that. I myself am only 42 years old and losing my husband. On top of that, we have a 20-year-old autistic child named Carter.

What I’m looking for is to raise as much funds as I can to buy a second-hand driving camper that I can set up to take my husband traveling before I lose him completely! His dream is to see the redwood forest and the Grand Canyon. If I had a class C camper, I could drive both him and my son without upsetting their routines and lives too much. Waking up in familiar places is helpful for both of them! I hate asking for handouts, it’s not who I am, but in this case, my husband’s happiness means everything to me and I’ll do anything to make his dreams come true before it’s too late! Please, every little bit will help and I’ll be sure to post to anyone who wants to see where their money went. If you don’t have money, please SHARE! I thank you all in advance and appreciate everything more than you’ll ever know!