Help Michelle get a SmartDrive Power Assist

Hi, my name is Kaitlyn Black. I'm fundraising for my twin sister Michelle Mitchell. She needs a power assist device for her custom wheelchair, and it's called a SmartDrive.

The SmartDrive is a power assist device from Max Mobility that will change your life. It can power you and your manual wheelchair up steep hills, through the carpet and over grass, and through the snow. It is simple to use, and a single charge can last for days.

Michelle is 26-years old and has gone through many medical issues throughout her life. She has 13 medical conditions, and many are chronic illnesses. She has had 12 major surgeries, a stroke in 1997, and is feeding tube dependent. She has a custom manual wheelchair that was paid for by the government of British Columbia. Michelle lives at home with our mom as she can’t live alone. She can walk short distances and self-propel for short distances; otherwise, she has to have our mom or me to be able to push her in the wheelchair. If she had the SmartDrive she would gain the independence she wants. Although she has many medical conditions explained below, two of the main reasons for the wheelchair are her asthma and severe chronic pain.

She was born at 34-weeks, our mom knew Michelle would have some challenges. She was born with no esophagus from the collarbone down. It took nine surgeries to make an esophagus from 8-hrs old to 5-years old. During these surgeries, her LAT muscle and right collar bone were removed. Removing these parts made her right side weaker. Additionally, she had a stroke at 2-years old that has also affected the right side of her body, she can compensate well, but if she is tired, she struggles with strength on her right side again making it hard to self-propel.

At 2-years old, Michelle was diagnosed with brittle asthma. Over the years, she has struggled with regular pneumonia and lung infections. This has caused pulmonary fibrosis along with asthma. As a result, she has lost most of her lung function; it is currently sitting at 32% FEV1. Having this low lung function, Michelle tiers quickly and makes self-propelling.

At 12-years old, she was diagnosed with “S” curve scoliosis and had scoliosis surgery at 17-years old. Her wheelchair provides side support for her back. She can not carry anything over 5Ibs and has chronic back pain from scoliosis.

Michelle has suffered from chronic pain since 2007. This pain journey has been challenging, and she struggles daily to manage her pain. It affects almost every part of her body; one particular spot is her ankles. Another horrible pain is her allodynia. This condition causes pain all over her skin, and even brushing hair or clothing is extremely painful. Due to the pain, she can no longer get around and is often housebound. She is on nerve medications, a narcotic, and a muscle relaxer to help with pain, and you can always find her on a heating pad. Chronic pain is one of the most significant barriers to her living her life, and it often keeps her housebound, and she has to use her wheelchair inside her small home. Her pain is not well controlled currently, and she is working with her doctors on this.

Between 2017 and 2020, Michelle had three more surgeries. She has a stomach condition called gastroparesis, and essentially it means the stomach is paralyzed. She has two feeding tubes. A jejunal feeding tube (J-tube) and a gastric tube (G-tube). The J-tube is used for formula 22-hours a day, medication, and water intake, 100% of her water and nutrition is through her j-tube. Her g-tube is used to drain stomach acid out of her stomach. Her formula and pump in a backpack along with water and medication, this bag can get very heavy; due to her chronic pain and scoliosis, she can't always carry her bag; this means when she goes out, she is missing essential nutrients. With the wheelchair, she can hang the backpack and stay connected.

Michelle has recently been diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). This condition causes exhaustion, chronic pain, fine motor control issues, and many more symptoms, and sleep does not always help. Michelle experiences exhaustion without warning, and her legs feel like jello, chronic pain, and losses grip of things. The wheelchair has done wonders with helping her get around when experiancing symptoms, but at that time she cannot sekf-propel at all and needs assitance.

Michelle has PWD (Persons With Disabilities) status in B.C. PWD gives financial assistance. This financial assistance does not cover all of her bills, including medical bills that the government does not cover, and our mom has to help her. Our mom works full-time and often overtime to cover all their bills and often can’t make ends meet. This is why we are asking for help from you. They do not have savings and have no way to pay for the SmartDrive. They have asked charities in the area but never heard back from anyone. They have applied for loans and could not get one. This is Michelle’s last chance to receive her desperately needed SmartDrive.The government will not pay for the SmartDirve even though it's one of the only ways she can get around. The SmartDrive itself is $7,353.00 the bag to transport the SmartDrive safely is $130.00, then there will be installation charges to add sensors to the manual wheelchair.

Thank you to everyone for reading about my sister Michelle Mitchell,and we appreciate any help!

Kaitlyn Black.