Help for Alex Zamora DMD Needs

This is Alex Zamora, my best friend Stacy’s amazing, 16 year old son.  Alex was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at the age of 3. DMD is a highly debilitating and fatal muscle wasting disease that affects every muscle in the body, including organs such as the heart and lungs. The average lifespan for a person with DMD is 20 years. There is no cure. For more information on DMD, check out http://www.mda.org Alex's disease has progressed to the point that he is completely wheelchair bound and requires 24 hour round the clock care. A few weeks ago, Alex suffered a major setback when he fell in the bathroom and broke his femur. Alex was transported to 2 different medical facilities and had to spend 10 days in the hospital. This was many more days than was necessary due to the fact that the proper medical equipment needed for him to be able to return home safely could not be procured in a timely fashion due to hospital and insurance issues. Alex is finally at home now, but the family is in desperate need of assistance still.

  Alex will be turning 13 in January and has endured years of therapy, doctors’ visits, failed clinical drug trials, medications and their unfortunate side effects, as well as decreasing mobility that inhibited his ability to participate in PE and other school activities. He has a heart of gold with the most beautiful smile and he has persevered like the champ that he is. Unfortunately, his mobility has decreased to the point that he must use his wheelchair more frequently and is now having difficulty even moving around inside his own home. Eventually, he will reach a point where he is completely wheelchair dependent and the fear is that this may occur before the year is out. The problem that the family now faces is that it is in increasingly difficult for them to move Alex from his wheelchair to the car and back again because of his size and lack of mobility. It is also dangerous to make these transfers because any fall can damage muscles that are unable to repair themselves, making the degeneration of these muscles even worse than it already is.

  At this time, Alex and his family are in desperate need of a wheelchair accessible van to transport Alex to school, doctors, and anywhere else he needs to go. These vans typically run anywhere from $40,000 to $70,000. This is an expense that the family cannot bear on their own. Because Stacy is a stay at home mom to her special needs child, the Zamora’s are a single income family - with one child in college and another with mounting medical expenses. This Go Fund Me is vital to the family’s ability to provide viable transportation for their son. Any funds received will go directly to the purchase of the wheelchair accessible van. Should any extra funds be raised, they will be used on construction costs to make Alex’s bathroom wheelchair accessible as well.

Your donations are so greatly appreciated and we will keep you updated as the family gets closer to their goal.