Help us give Parker the gift of a stair lift!

Our daughter Parker is a 14-year-old beautiful young lady with the softest kindest heart that you could ever meet. She wants nothing more than to be a normal teenager, however, life continues to throw challenges at her. She was born with Spina Bifida in 2009 and has been through a lot in her 14 years. Parker walks with forearm crutches and uses her wheelchair for longer distances for school or around the community. Spina Bifida doesn’t just affect her walking, it affects her medically from head to toe. Parker has had 15 major surgeries with many days and weeks spent in the hospital, doctors’ offices, and appointments working with PT, OT and Speech. To add another layer to her difficulties, at the age of 11 she started having seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy. To say her life has been difficult is an understatement. Parker has always relied heavily on people helping her to get around and with other medical stuff that she is unable to take care of herself, but the seizures have taken away even more of her independence and confidence. With all this being said, she tries so hard not to let her disabilities get her down or stand in her way; she is most definitely a resilient child. Parker’s absolute favorite thing to do is to go outside, listen to music and swing; it doesn’t matter if its rain, snow or shine, she always finds a way to get outside. I believe it gives her a sense of freedom and gives her time to be in control of her life and her body. Unfortunately getting outside is not easy for Parker. She does have to go down a flight of stairs and coming back up is even more challenging. As her Mom I love seeing her pushing for independence, but I know the day will come when she tumbles down the stairs and could be severely hurt. When she was little, we were able to carry her up and down, but you can only imagine how heavy and dangerous it is to carry a 14-year-old up the stairs every day or even several times a day.

We are reaching out for the first time to ask for help. This certainly is not an easy thing for us to do, because we have always been able to find a way to provide or adapt with what we have to keep Parker safe and somewhat independent in her own environment. We are looking for any donations to help put in a stair lift for our daughter so she can keep doing what she loves and most importantly to stay safe while going up and down the stairs in her own home.

Our goal is to raise $17,000 to cover the stair lift and installation. Unfortunately, the cost of equipment,

medical visits, hospital stays, supplies, medicine and whatever else she needs on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis is outrageously expensive. We do our absolute best to utilize insurance and programs, but equipment is rarely covered and is considered by insurance as an amenity and unnecessary.

Thank you for taking the time to read about our sweet daughter Parker and her situation. Parker is a very

special girl that deserves to stay safe in her own home.