Urgent Help Needed for Sandy's Safety

What started as a frustrating inconvenience has become a safety issue and an emergency.

My mom is in need of a new mattress, it is endangering her health and safety. Her old mattress isn't even that old, but has caved in.

Hi, I am Champagne. I am the sole caregiver for my mom Sandy, who has arthritis, chronic kidney disease, fibromyalgia, and has had several discs in her lower back essentially crumble. Because of this and based on advice from medical professionals we purchased an adjustable bed frame and mattress about four years ago. It has helped immensely. But now we have a problem.

The mattress has caved in on one side and is starting to cave in on the other. There is a seven and a half inch height difference between the two sides of the mattress, although that difference is sadly decreasing as the other side caves in.

We tried returning the mattress, as we were told the company we purchased it from has a lifetime warranty. However, there is a small stain on it (we don't even know what it is or how it happened) and it voided the entire warranty. I am still fighting that, but we can't really wait.

Mom keeps falling off the bed. Particularly when getting in or out, because the mattress now slopes so severely. It isn't a violent fall, more of a slow slide. Sometimes I can get her back up, but I have my own serious health conditions that affect my ability to help. She used to be able to get herself up, but her knee replacements she got twenty years ago were made to last about twenty years, so they're giving out. We are working on that issue as well. We have had to make so many calls to emergency services so that they can pick her up off the floor. She's bumped her head a few times on her way down, and it is only a matter of time before she hurts herself further. She has a medical alert necklace, because I am very concerned with leaving her alone with what has become a dangerous issue. I work from home, but obviously I have to leave for errands, etc. Coming home to find her dragging herself along the floor to get to the bathroom is something I never want to see again. We are working in physical therapy to increase her strength in her legs, but there is only so much we can do there because of her spinal issues and her knee replacements.

We have turned the mattress (because of the way it works, we can't flip it over.) Currently she is sleeping on what was the foot of the bed on the other side. But sleeping on the other side causes its own issues, as she now has a much, much farther distance to travel to get to the bathroom, and we've had several of that type of accident since moving her (it used to be maybe four steps, but now she has to go from the head of the bed to the foot and then all the way around, probably about sixty steps because of the shape of the room.)

The mattress has also started to cave in on that side. We move her over as much as we can, and have several different arrangements for her water and food etc., to reduce her need to reach over, which can and has also led to falls. I promise if it can be thought of, we have tried it. I have even offered to swap mattresses with her, but mine won't work on the adjustable bed, which again she needs for mobility issues. It has us in a serious bind, and we need to stop the falls before something really bad happens.

The mattress, not her health, has decreased her independence tremendously, and she is agitated each time she gets in or out of bed. Considering the amount of time she spends there, it is also an immense strain on her mental health. All her doctors agree that she does not need a hospital bed in her room, just a mattress that won't cave in.

It is clear we received a lemon of a mattress, and as I said, I am pursuing different channels to get assistance from the company we bought it from, but that takes time. And during that time, the mattress is failing again.

So I need to get her a new mattress (from a different company.) We've done some comparison shopping and she's tried out a few, and we know what we want. We were not approved for financing, and we do not have the money to buy it outright on our own.

So I am asking for money to cover a mattress and a few assistance devices (like a bariatric trapeze bar so she can scoot up and down easier.)

There is no one more important to me than my mom. Not being able to fix this on my own and quickly has been hard, so now I am here asking for help. The sooner I can get her a new mattress, the safer and less agitated she will be.