My name is Jesse Stay. Louis is my son.

Louis has ME/CFS and hEDS — two relentless conditions that make his body fight against him every single day. He can't work. He has been fighting for disability benefits for three years. Through all of it, he keeps showing up — as a disability advocate, as a leader in Spokane's LGBTQ community, as someone who gives to others even when giving costs him everything.

Jesse watched Louis, despite the relentless pain, lead entire movements supporting the transgender community, finish his Masters degree, and then walk — in pain, on his walker — to receive his diploma. His determination is relentless, even as his condition has gotten worse since.

“He reports significant functional impairment, stating this is the first time he has left the house in a month due to being ‘laid out from symptoms.’ He uses a wheelchair and notes that his current chair is a makeshift solution while awaiting insurance approval for a more suitable one.”

— Louis’s physician

For the past year, he has been doing all of that on a secondhand powered walker that keeps throwing him to the ground.

Here is what Louis wants you to know, in his own words:

“During a doctor’s visit, my powered walker threw me to the ground. The edge of the curb cut was too much for it to manage, and my caregiver had to help pull me up. Every time it tips I risk bruises, broken bones, or joint subluxations.

I’ve asked insurance for a wheelchair three times. They denied it each time — citing the powered walker I already have as proof that I don’t need one. The device that keeps injuring me is being used as evidence that I’m fine.

What I need is the Fold N Go MagShock: a lightweight, foldable, all-terrain powered wheelchair built for real surfaces — cracked sidewalks, grass, uneven ground. It folds so caregivers can help transport it. It would give me back something I’ve been slowly losing: the ability to choose where I go and whether I show up.

That matters to me more than I can explain. I’m a disability advocate and a leader in my local LGBTQ community. I show up for people. I organize, I support, I connect. Right now I can barely do any of that in person because I can’t get there safely. This wheelchair doesn’t just help me move. It lets me keep showing up for my communities.

The Fold N Go MagShock costs $3,000. Insurance has said no three times. I’m asking you to say yes. If you can’t give, sharing this is just as valuable.

Thank you for giving me a chance at greater freedom. — Louis”

The second photo in this campaign shows the walker he is currently using. That device — and what it has cost him — is why we are here.

$3,000 gets Louis a safe wheelchair and his life back. As his dad, I’m asking you to help us get there.

— Jesse Stay