Please Help Support Teddy’s Struggle With MD

I want to introduce you to my friend since high school, Teddy. His lifelong bout with Muscular Dystrophy is in its advanced stage and he needs our help.

Help is not something he’s used to asking for. Teddy’s storied life has been defined by tenacious independence. Abandoned by his father at age thirteen, Teddy was left to care for his mother who was slowly succumbing to the same disease at work in Teddy’s body. He looked after her by day and homeschooled himself by night. Just weeks before his graduation, his mother passed. Teddy moved in with his grandmother, but within a year dementia took her as well.

From then on, Teddy has been on his own. Driven by that independent spirit, exceptional optimism and ambition, he has lived a wildly adventurous life. That independence was severely challenged, however, after hip fractures from two falls were followed by complications from MD’s progression－complications that led to a tracheotomy, a feeding tube, and have permanently curtailed his mobility. The once mundane essentials of life have become arduous processes that take hours and require the aid of a paid caregiver.

All his life, Teddy has rolled with the punches, meeting adversity with a wry smile and an indomitable will, but with his work income hampered by the illness, and Medicaid, Medicare and Disability pay falling short of covering expenses, he is in a situation that he can’t solve on his own.

Please help to give Teddy the support he needs to rise to the challenges of Muscular Dystrophy. Your generosity is deeply appreciated.