Support the Akintola Family

Hi, my name is Abigael Akintola. Two of my boys (Victor and Praise) have a condition called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic medical condition that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness due to a lack of dystrophin, a protein that supports muscle cells. It is a progressive neuromuscular disorder that causes a loss of motor, pulmonary, and cardiac function The Duchenne gene is found on the X-chromosome; therefore, it affects mostly males. In rare cases, it also affects females. It affects approximately 1 in every 3,500 live male births. There are approximately 15,000 patients diagnosed with Duchenne alive today in the United States. They both have tracheostomies and use ventilators to assist their breathing, and they have feeding tubes for enteral nutrition needs. They both use manual and motorized wheelchairs since they are able to walk due to the progression of the muscle condition.

My family and I want to expand our house to make it wheelchair accessible for them. They currently have very limited space in their small room. Having a wheelchair-accessible home would help to accommodate both of their hospital beds, medical equipment, and supplies. The ground-floor bathroom near their room is too small, and the doorway entrance is narrow. This makes it hard and unsafe for transferring them to use the bathroom, it is not accessible to meet their medical needs. This issue doesn't allow them to go inside the bathroom with their motorized wheelchairs. Getting a wheelchair-accessible bathroom with a roll-in shower would solve the issue. Their younger brother transfers them when they want to use the bathroom or go on the wheelchair, etc. Getting a Hoyer lift would help to avoid the risk of injury or risk of falling from transferring.

Another plan is to purchase a new wheelchair van for my boys. We have a van but it is not convenient and it doesn’t hold two wheelchairs securely.

We would like to also purchase medical devices to assist them due to their medical condition.

Main Goals

Thank you in advance for your kind contribution, God bless you.