Mark Tucci mobility
Donation protected
Mark Tucci has been a friend for more than 40 years. We worked in a restaurant kitchen, where he could make people laugh even when we were deep in the weeds. A handsome Italian, he never struggled to make friends or find dates.
Later, he moved back to Vermont, where he grew up. He got married and sober, and started a house-painting business. He developed MS more than 20 years ago. It was incorrectly diagnosed for a long time. Initially the docs told him it was all in his head. His (by-then ex)-wife passed away from leukemia. They had two sons, Paul and John, now grown men.
MS is a progressive disease, and by now it's very far along. Mark has partial use of one hand, but his legs and arms have more-or-less quit. He has a wheelchair that he drives with a joystick. He has met each limitation with ingenuity and more cheerfulness than anyone would expect.
His primary challenge is that the only relief he gets from his relentless painful spasms is medical marijuana. Because of that, he can't live anywhere that relies on federal funds. Weed is still a Schedule 1 drug in the eyes of the feds, right up there with heroin, so no facility will allow him in with his meds. He wants to stay in his little house in Mt. Tabor VT so he can continue to get some semblance of pain relief.
Mark can no longer transfer between his wheelchair and the toilet, the bed or the shower, without being lifted. There is a device called Sure Hands that enables people like him to transfer unassisted. It's a miraculous development, and it is not covered by Medicare or Medicaid. Check it out at www.surehands.com. He needs one. Let's try to raise the money to get him one and get it installed.
Any contribution will go a long way to making this happen. He's a friend in need. Let's help him.
Later, he moved back to Vermont, where he grew up. He got married and sober, and started a house-painting business. He developed MS more than 20 years ago. It was incorrectly diagnosed for a long time. Initially the docs told him it was all in his head. His (by-then ex)-wife passed away from leukemia. They had two sons, Paul and John, now grown men.
MS is a progressive disease, and by now it's very far along. Mark has partial use of one hand, but his legs and arms have more-or-less quit. He has a wheelchair that he drives with a joystick. He has met each limitation with ingenuity and more cheerfulness than anyone would expect.
His primary challenge is that the only relief he gets from his relentless painful spasms is medical marijuana. Because of that, he can't live anywhere that relies on federal funds. Weed is still a Schedule 1 drug in the eyes of the feds, right up there with heroin, so no facility will allow him in with his meds. He wants to stay in his little house in Mt. Tabor VT so he can continue to get some semblance of pain relief.
Mark can no longer transfer between his wheelchair and the toilet, the bed or the shower, without being lifted. There is a device called Sure Hands that enables people like him to transfer unassisted. It's a miraculous development, and it is not covered by Medicare or Medicaid. Check it out at www.surehands.com. He needs one. Let's try to raise the money to get him one and get it installed.
Any contribution will go a long way to making this happen. He's a friend in need. Let's help him.
Organizer
Edward Graham-Handley
Organizer
Farmington, CT
