Fundraising a Wheelchair Accessible Van for Henry

My name is Carol Cho, I am a healthcare provider and friend to the Crawley family; David, Heather, Rosemary (age 9) and Henry (age 10). As a mother of two, I feel a natural inclination to help this family with their needs. We are looking for donations to help this family pay off the remaining $60,000 balance of the wheelchair-accessible van for their son Henry. Due to unforeseen costs in their lives, the van has become unaffordable and they are now at risk of losing it if they don't find the funding for it. Once complete, the funds from this gofundme will be directed to Heather and David's bank account directly from this page. The entire sum will be used as one payment to completely pay off the van, leaving this family with what they need to continue to live their lives as normally as possible and most importantly enrich the life of young Henry.

Henry was diagnosed with a very rare degenerative brain disease known as pelizaeus-merzbacher like disease, which is one of the many classifications of leukodystrophy. In short, Henry’s illness is the slow breakdown of the myelin sheath of his brain and nervous system. With this, Henry is slowly losing the motor function of his body. In 10 years, David and Heather had to watch their little boy go from walking unassisted to using a walker, to where he is today completely immobile. For more on this, please read this article David had written in 2018: https://ulf.org/2020/02/henry-crawley-pmld/

Heather and David have to work through all of Henry’s needs every single day. While both working full-time jobs (David is currently working two) to pay their bills. They have to lift their 10-year-old child in and out of bed, on and off the toilet, to and from every chair and have to carefully watch over and feed Henry as he can no longer do it himself, and is prone to choking. They are a living example of unconditional love.

Heather managed to get government funding for a motorized wheelchair that Henry can use to get around with the limited motion of his right hand. While this has been a blessing for them, the downside of this is that this chair weighs over 300 pounds, and is not easily transported.

They have worked very hard to finance a modified van to accommodate this problem despite zero federal and provincial funding. The van, with its modification, ended up costing this family just under 100k, which they continue to make very costly monthly payments on.

This van allows Henry to have independent mobility during their family outings. It gives his parents moments of normalcy and has done wonders for Henry’s self-esteem. Losing it would be a detriment to their functionality.

Although we may not be able to help this family with the physical, emotional, and spiritual battle they face, ultimately I strongly believe we can alleviate some of their financial burdens. The financial burden is the last thing this family needs. Together let's help lift this burden and allow them to spend more time with Henry!

Henry all smiles for Uncle Jerry's camera at William Watson Lodge.

Henry is happy to be with his cousin Gabriel at Juree's Thai Place.

Exploring the neighbourhood with his sister Rosemary.

Henry at a Flames game with his family.

Exploring the walking trails of Red Lodge Campground with his sister.

Henry riding Star at a Prairie Sky Equine Assisted Therapy session.

Hanging out at Dad's wood pile while camping.

Happy to be with Dad at the kid's school Father's Day celebration.

Rosie jumped in for another picture at the wood pile.

Skating with his sister.

Posing next to the river at Red Lodge.

Presenting his Mom with a flower during a walk.

All smiles with Uncle Jerry at the mall.

Family photo at William Watson Lodge.

Scooting around the campsite in his chair.

Proudly displaying last year's Halloween costumes.

Enjoying a physio appointment.

Another (much colder) family photo at William Watson Lodge.

Celebrating Canada Day with Gabriel.

Front row seats at the Springbank Airshow last summer.

Happy to support his sister's First Holy Communion.

Presenting family friend Mark LeFresne with some artwork.