Independence for Opie
Donation protected
Do you remember your first bike? After conquering the fear of riding without training wheels, for most kids it was the first real taste of independence, the next big step in the evolution from child to adult. By the time I was 12 I could ride my bike to my best friend’s house, baseball practice, even school. Yeah, that was independence.
Opie lives in Iowa. His parents bought an old schoolhouse for their large family. Sitting on 5 acres the 3½ story place has plenty of room for him to roam in his powerchair.
When they first moved into the house the 96 steps didn’t pose much of an issue for the 20 pound toddler. Carrying him up and down the stairs was no big deal. The only bathtub in the house is on the basement level and the bedrooms are all upstairs. Opie, who was born with Cerebral Palsy, has always been restricted to whatever floor his older male siblings carried him .
Opie will soon be 12. He’s confined to a wheelchair and weighs a bit more than 60 pounds.
Herein lays the problem, Opie’s last older brother leaves for college in about 150 days. After that his parents aren’t sure what they’re going to do to transport the tween from floor to floor or to the bath.
The solution is a wheelchair lift. The cost is $6,000 once the call button, extra height, and other needed options are added. This lift will finally give Opie the mobility to get from the second floor (his bedroom, living room, toilet, and kitchen), to the shower level, outside to play, or to the family’s van.
More than just a means to transfer from floor to floor or outdoors, this lift will give Opie the first real taste of independence he’s experienced since getting his first Powerchair! Like your first bike, Opie will get real freedom. He won’t be carried from floor to floor, which at times can make him feel like an overgrown infant. Nope. Opie will be in charge. He’ll be independent. He’ll take that next step, like you and I did, about that same age, from less of a child to more of an adult.
The second goal will be $3,000 to transform the family’s laundry room into a roll-in shower for Opie. Opie will be able to take the lift to the shower… A shower with everything at his level that he can get to by himself. Opie is a growing boy. He’ll soon be 12 and again, would gain another level of independence. What has worked in the past 11 years is not working now.
Opie’s parents are more than generous people who have never failed to help others. I know they have blessed me on more than one occasion and I know they would’ve made these home transformations themselves if it wasn’t for the many trips to the doctor in Kansas City, and numerous necessary operations for Opie.
Opie cannot ride a bike this year… But you can help him experience his first taste of true independence.
Give today! Don’t hesitate. 150 days and counting.
Thanks!!
Opie lives in Iowa. His parents bought an old schoolhouse for their large family. Sitting on 5 acres the 3½ story place has plenty of room for him to roam in his powerchair.
When they first moved into the house the 96 steps didn’t pose much of an issue for the 20 pound toddler. Carrying him up and down the stairs was no big deal. The only bathtub in the house is on the basement level and the bedrooms are all upstairs. Opie, who was born with Cerebral Palsy, has always been restricted to whatever floor his older male siblings carried him .
Opie will soon be 12. He’s confined to a wheelchair and weighs a bit more than 60 pounds.
Herein lays the problem, Opie’s last older brother leaves for college in about 150 days. After that his parents aren’t sure what they’re going to do to transport the tween from floor to floor or to the bath.
The solution is a wheelchair lift. The cost is $6,000 once the call button, extra height, and other needed options are added. This lift will finally give Opie the mobility to get from the second floor (his bedroom, living room, toilet, and kitchen), to the shower level, outside to play, or to the family’s van.
More than just a means to transfer from floor to floor or outdoors, this lift will give Opie the first real taste of independence he’s experienced since getting his first Powerchair! Like your first bike, Opie will get real freedom. He won’t be carried from floor to floor, which at times can make him feel like an overgrown infant. Nope. Opie will be in charge. He’ll be independent. He’ll take that next step, like you and I did, about that same age, from less of a child to more of an adult.
The second goal will be $3,000 to transform the family’s laundry room into a roll-in shower for Opie. Opie will be able to take the lift to the shower… A shower with everything at his level that he can get to by himself. Opie is a growing boy. He’ll soon be 12 and again, would gain another level of independence. What has worked in the past 11 years is not working now.
Opie’s parents are more than generous people who have never failed to help others. I know they have blessed me on more than one occasion and I know they would’ve made these home transformations themselves if it wasn’t for the many trips to the doctor in Kansas City, and numerous necessary operations for Opie.
Opie cannot ride a bike this year… But you can help him experience his first taste of true independence.
Give today! Don’t hesitate. 150 days and counting.
Thanks!!
Organizer
Christopher Prough
Organizer
Mount Pleasant, IA