Jennifer Gray's Journey - Medical and accessibility needs.

Current Need: Thank you all so much for the donations to help make my home as wheelchair adapted as possible!! Next need is to pay off my condo, I have $65K left on it. I am currently able to work part-time, but it's a struggle to make the payment with my limited ability to work. Removing the mortgage payment would help ease the burden tremendously and ensure a roof over my head in the event I am unable to work at all due to my disabilities.

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Jennifer’s Story

               Jennifer Gray is a musician who is not only exceptional because of her talents; she has spent her adult life having to learn to adapt to her world with Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy, a disease that most often affects boys but can in some very rare cases can affect women as well.

  She began to recognize at an early age something wasn’t quite right and would notice that she tired easily. Her brother, Tyler was suffering from and has sadly passed away from Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy and at the time, her symptoms were mistakenly overlooked by her family and doctors. She continued to experience perplexing symptoms throughout her life and finally, in 2010, after multiple surgeries for herniated discs in her early adult years and a significant increase unexplained heart problems and progressing weakness, her local doctors as well as her doctors at Shands Hospital in Gainesville began to put all of the random clues together. The Neurologists called the interns to watch Jennifer walk down the hall and asked them if they recognized her shaky gait. They said she looked just like the young boys who were diagnosed with Duchennes MD! This was the first time Jennifer had anyone who could adequately explain what was happening. It has taken 8 years for Jennifer to come to grips with the impact this disease has had on her life and what it means for her future.

Jennifer’s backstory for her current need

               In June 2017 Jennifer began fundraising for a wheelchair van because she had reached the point in her fight with Duchennes that she required the use of a powerchair which would not fit in a regular vehicle. Jennifer was beginning to understand that her independence was contingent on her having a vehicle that could transport her new “legs”. The Fundraiser was a rousing success! Her friends and musician community raised $10,000 in 11 weeks! With that she bought her 10 year old wheelchair van and ticket to independence and work! 

               March 13th in 2018, Jennifer’s world crashed to an abrupt halt after a texting driver hit her from behind sending Jennifer into the car in front of her and causing her wheelchair to collide with her seat from behind. This accident totaled her van. Even with the van totaled what most people would walk away from, Jennifer found she couldn’t walk at all! That day would be the start of 52 days of hospital and rehab centers.

               That accident changed Jennifer’s world once again and created huge financial challenges. This accident took away her ability to live in her home that was not ADA accessible. That challenge was met with the opportunity to stay in a home that two of her musician, guardian angel friends were able to offer her temporarily. She has since sold her previous home, used some of the assets from that sale to pay off the balance of the high-interest van loan, but that left her with not enough to buy another home that can be made ADA accessible.

               The accident created a mountain of medical debt that the other driver is not insured for and Medicare won’t cover. Jennifer lost her car and the accident has now dictated more modifications to allow her to safely drive. This meant she now needed new van, complete with all of the modifications to allow her to drive for the next 10 years. The accident created more damage to her heart which as a muscle, is greatly affected by Muscular Dystrophy.

The Costs

               The costs of the accident are monumental and will require fundraisers and concerts and many different creative ways to meet them all. This fundraiser is dedicated to covering the cost of Jennifer’s van. Independence Day came early on June 29th when Jennifer picked up her new van. This van has all of the modifications she will need in the foreseeable future and has lockdowns to protect her from runaway wheelchairs. This van with all of the mobility modifications cost a grand total of $82,000! Most of the cost of the new van is in all of the modifications. 

Before this van was purchased Jennifer set about to finding funding for this van. She was able to apply for added assistance through Vocational Rehabilitation and was awarded $45,000 which brought the balance of the van down to $37,000 owed on the van. The $10,000 Jennifer previously raised turned into the amount of $14,000 when the van was totaled so the remaining balance Jennifer needs to raise is down to $23,000!

How You Can Help

Now we need everyone else’s help! We need to raise $23,000 to pay for this van and allow Jennifer to continue to be independent and be able to work where she can be productive and continue to inspire others with her journey and her music! Jennifer will be hosting various concerts and cabarets to further raise funds to pay off the accident that changed her life. Please share her story and help spread the word of Jennifer’s Journey. This fundraiser will be the first of several to help Jennifer regain her life after it being irreparably altered because of a texting driver. 

Drive safely and please remember her story before texting while you drive!