- D
- D
- C
The young woman pictured is Sarah, someone I am so grateful to be able to know and assist in supporting. Sarah is an exceptional 28 year old woman who was born with severe intellectual and physical disabilities living in Melbourne, Australia. Sarah is non-verbal and uses a motorised wheelchair to get around with the help of her family and carers. Sarah therefore requires an accessible vehicle which is modified to fit her 200kg+ wheelchair inside safely for her daily transport needs.
A vehicle that meets her most basic transport requirements could cost anything up to $60,000, a cost that is understandably unobtainable for Sarah’s family. Sarah lives with her biological grandparents, whom are incredibly selfless people who just want Sarah to have the best quality of life possible. They generously provide 24/7 constant care for Sarah with very little financial assistance from the government, which they have done since they became her legal guardians when Sarah was 6 months old. Currently Sarah's financial needs are covered as best as possible by her grandparents, with their own pensions along with Sarah’s own pension.
Sarah was born with disabilities including Holoprosencephaly (where the brain fails to divide properly into the right and left hemispheres), cerebral palsy, quadriplegia and is fed through use of a gastronomy tube to her stomach. So rare are Sarah’s unique combination of disabilities that worldwide there are only 22 people born with these each year. The life expectancy given to most is usually 5 to 10 years with most people unfortunately being born disfigured, missing their facial features. Thankfully, Sarah was born with all her facial features although the extent of the challenges she continues to face cannot be underestimated.
Despite this, Sarah can make just about anyone’s heart melt when her face lights up and she smiles that giant grin of hers. She absolutely loves music, getting out and about, enjoying movies and shopping and yawning so she can laugh at you when you yawn too! This has made all of us that know her feel incredibly lucky... She has beat the odds, defying the lifespan of 5-10 years the doctors gave her, overcoming everything that life has thrown at her till this very day, where she continues to thrive each day.
Sarah's grandparents have been unable to get any government assistance and whilst the N.D.I.S ( National Disability Insurance Scheme ) has been great in providing funding for some of Sarah’s needs, unfortunately they will not cover the purchasing of a new car for Sarah. Which has meant that obtaining any assistance towards the cost of a new modified vehicle for Sarah to go out socially, the many medical appointments she has and to go out with her carers, including myself, through the week has been difficult. The van Sarah has currently is very old, has done well over 300,000kms and quite frankly is on the way out with many mechanical issues coming up, so we worry it may not last much longer. Due to the amount of kilometres, the van is exempt from further modifications, so even the ramp which is no longer most appropriate for Sarah’s current custom 200kg wheelchair cannot be fixed in her current car. Further, the current modifications and ramp are incredibly outdated and physically difficult to use, which is getting more and more difficult for Sarah’s grandparents to be able to use themselves.
We are seeking any assistance, any donations (big or small), which can make Sarah’s quality of life as best as we can manage it and make the lives of her grandparents that much easier. This is the most deserving family, who constantly brighten the days of those they meet, who just need some help achieving their goal of getting Sarah her new accessible van to allow her the same rights as we all do, to get out and about in the world. We are so grateful for any assistance and donations that can be offered and for all the support in sharing this!
Kind regards,
Hayley Thompson (a carer fundraising on behalf of Sarah and her nan Margaret Kendall).
A vehicle that meets her most basic transport requirements could cost anything up to $60,000, a cost that is understandably unobtainable for Sarah’s family. Sarah lives with her biological grandparents, whom are incredibly selfless people who just want Sarah to have the best quality of life possible. They generously provide 24/7 constant care for Sarah with very little financial assistance from the government, which they have done since they became her legal guardians when Sarah was 6 months old. Currently Sarah's financial needs are covered as best as possible by her grandparents, with their own pensions along with Sarah’s own pension.
Sarah was born with disabilities including Holoprosencephaly (where the brain fails to divide properly into the right and left hemispheres), cerebral palsy, quadriplegia and is fed through use of a gastronomy tube to her stomach. So rare are Sarah’s unique combination of disabilities that worldwide there are only 22 people born with these each year. The life expectancy given to most is usually 5 to 10 years with most people unfortunately being born disfigured, missing their facial features. Thankfully, Sarah was born with all her facial features although the extent of the challenges she continues to face cannot be underestimated.
Despite this, Sarah can make just about anyone’s heart melt when her face lights up and she smiles that giant grin of hers. She absolutely loves music, getting out and about, enjoying movies and shopping and yawning so she can laugh at you when you yawn too! This has made all of us that know her feel incredibly lucky... She has beat the odds, defying the lifespan of 5-10 years the doctors gave her, overcoming everything that life has thrown at her till this very day, where she continues to thrive each day.
Sarah's grandparents have been unable to get any government assistance and whilst the N.D.I.S ( National Disability Insurance Scheme ) has been great in providing funding for some of Sarah’s needs, unfortunately they will not cover the purchasing of a new car for Sarah. Which has meant that obtaining any assistance towards the cost of a new modified vehicle for Sarah to go out socially, the many medical appointments she has and to go out with her carers, including myself, through the week has been difficult. The van Sarah has currently is very old, has done well over 300,000kms and quite frankly is on the way out with many mechanical issues coming up, so we worry it may not last much longer. Due to the amount of kilometres, the van is exempt from further modifications, so even the ramp which is no longer most appropriate for Sarah’s current custom 200kg wheelchair cannot be fixed in her current car. Further, the current modifications and ramp are incredibly outdated and physically difficult to use, which is getting more and more difficult for Sarah’s grandparents to be able to use themselves.
We are seeking any assistance, any donations (big or small), which can make Sarah’s quality of life as best as we can manage it and make the lives of her grandparents that much easier. This is the most deserving family, who constantly brighten the days of those they meet, who just need some help achieving their goal of getting Sarah her new accessible van to allow her the same rights as we all do, to get out and about in the world. We are so grateful for any assistance and donations that can be offered and for all the support in sharing this!
Kind regards,
Hayley Thompson (a carer fundraising on behalf of Sarah and her nan Margaret Kendall).