Help Keep Donna Rolling

Our dear friend, Donna (Mendelow) Manvich, has multiple sclerosis (MS) and has lost her ability to walk, to work, to get around. We want to raise funds to get her a wheelchair van to help keep her rolling.

Donna’s journey has been truly remarkable. One of the strongest, most verbal and most vibrant people we know, Donna contracted progressive multiple sclerosis during her time at Hobart & William Smith Colleges, although it was not until she was a young wife and mother that she was accurately diagnosed. But as Donna says, she was not going to let this disease define her. She earned an MA in philosophy from Stony Brook University, founded an organization in New York that helps disabled individuals reach their full work potential, and was named Person of the Year by the Long Island Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. She went on to earn her JD from Touro Law, even as the disease progressed and she was no longer fully ambulatory. During this time she raised her two children, established herself in legal writing and research and coauthored a chapter on international parental child abduction in a book on family and divorce law in New York. Donna’s will and spirit seemed indomitable!

Donna is still able to work part-time, but it has become necessary for her husband, Issac, to become her full-time caretaker. In his 70’s and in ill health himself, Isaac has single-handedly kept Donna out of a nursing home. Any excursion outside of the home requires him to lift her wheelchair into the car and get her situated in the passenger seat. This is a complicated and difficult maneuver and means Donna rarely leaves her home.

We are determined to "Keep Donna Rolling" with a wheelchair van. We hope that you will help us achieve this outcome.