Urgent Fundraising for a wheelchair user.

Hello everyone, I am fundraising to help a disabled lady in a wheelchair, who needs to raise £16,000 by 3rd October 2023.

I have known her personally for over 35 years and regardless of her disabilty she has always gone above and beyond for her community and those in need.

She has been on the Motability scheme for many years now.

Motability is a registered charity that helps disabled people to become more mobile and independent by providing adapted vehicles that meets individual needs. They take away all the stress of adapting the car, insurance, RAC cover, servicing, MOT, tyre change, hire car when needed and much more.

Unfortunately, this year it has been difficult to find a suitable car that meets her needs. Currently she drives a Toyota Prius, fully adapted to her needs with low boot access that provides enough space for her rigid frame wheelchair and she is able to transfer easily in/out of the car from her wheelchair.

Her current car’s lease has already been extended by Motability from 3 years to 5 years because she was very satisfied with the vehicle and because of the high additional advance payment she paid when she got the car ( advance payments varies from car to car). Due to her wheelchair and needs, she requires an automatic vehicle so it can be adapted and must be a medium to large size car.

She attended this years Motability show at Birmingham NEC 2023, but unfortunately for the first time, she was unable to find a suitable car that met her needs. Her current car is no longer available on the Motability scheme, likewise other cars she had driven in the past like the Ford s-max and others. The cars which were previously available and suitable are no longer available at the moment due to electronic chips shortage worldwide and car designers re-thinking of solutions for upcoming 2030 no petrol engine sale.

Most cars at the Motability show, trend was more towards SUV’s, so the vehicles were higher from the ground making it very difficult to transfer and this made boots higher too so much more difficult to put the wheelchair in/out of the boot. Additionally, another obstacle with some of the boots were the boot shape and restriction due to the loading lips.

This years search for a new Motability vehicle was very stressful and after exhausting all possible options, Motability informed her of the option to buy her current vehicle from them at market price. The value of the Toyota Prius in its current condition is valued at £18,075.

She had been saving over the 5 years for the advance payment which she has always had to pay additionally for her adapted Motability vehicles over the years as she’s always needed a medium to larger automatic vehicles.

She is only able to contribute £2,075 so is needing help to raise the remaining £16,000.

This lady has always worked with what’s within her means and is down to earth. She is in a difficult situation financially that impact her negatively mentally and physically. She needs to have a car out of necessity not luxury and needs to be able to do day to day things for herself and her family. Her current vehicle ticks all the boxes and is already fully adapted with all necessary hand controls.

She’s worked extremely hard for her independence after becoming paraplegic due to a bleed in her spinal cord.

Please help me to raise the £16,000 for this selfless and kind lady so she can have her independence and continue to live a positive proactive life for her children and community.

Any donation not matter how small will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all very much.