Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle for Disabled Vet
Donation protected
Wheelchair-ready vehicle for disabled, retired veteran
Many of you may not know my family and background. I have 2 brothers, but both are not in the traditional sense. The first is biological, and many may have heard me refer to him as the truck-driving, laid-back one. But the other, my foster brother, is who I am looking to talk with you about today. Chris MacGregor came into our lives as I was leaving for college. A friend of my aforementioned biological brother, Michael, he was one that did not have a solid family life. My mother took him in, and he continued to spend much time at the family abode.
Over the years we all grew up and went in drastically different ways and didn’t keep in touch as good as we should have for sure. Chris was a very smart, determined one. He also married younger that the rest of us and was with his wife until she passed in 2009. He knew her from high school, and despite the fact she was in a motorcycle accident, he stuck with her, all the way to the end. She lost a leg in that accident and never completely recovered, but that didn’t deter Chris, as he was a loving husband for over 25 years.
Chris served in 3 branches of service. He started out in the Army for 8 years, reaching the rank of Sargent. After serving there, he enlisted in the Navy, where he served as a corpsman with the Marines. During this tenure, he also served in presidential details during the Bush and Clinton eras, and was part of Operation Desert Storm.
In 1995, he was diagnosed with Becker Muscular Dystrophy. But that didn’t stop him from working. He continued to work in Florida in a variety of fields until the passing of his wife, when he returned to Northern New York. He continued to work as the disease progressed, eventually retiring from the lab on Ft. Drum. He was asked to retire, as the disease had reached a point where he could not hold much with his hands.
After many years of fighting the disease and refusing to use a wheelchair, against his doctors’ advice, the point has come where he is going to need one. He has refused to do this up to this point due to him not being able to purchase a vehicle that can sustain the wheelchair. But in order to continue to be mobile, he will now need this vehicle.
The vehicle is not just a means of transportation but a medical necessity. He lives in Alexandria Bay, New York, and most of his treatment is based at the VA hospital, and through the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) in Syracuse, New York, almost 2 hours away. The medical services he needs are not located in this remote part of New York State, as his disease has reached a point where treatment can not be done locally.
The vehicle is going to be retrofitted to his individual needs by the VA and MDA through grants, but he must have the vehicle first. They will not pay for the vehicle itself but will pay for the expense of making it wheelchair-ready. Also, due to the nature of his disease progression and weather conditions, there are few vehicles that will be able to meet his needs. Yes, he continues to live self-contained without much assistance. He continues to drive the 30 minutes for groceries as well as the 2-hour trek to his medical appointments in Syracuse, living off only of his pension and Social Security.
I know times in this country are tough, but any small donation would get us that much closer to our goal of $20,000. Even if you can’t donate, please share this post with your friends so we can reach a wide array of people. Thank you in advance for your time in reading this, and for any amount you can contribute to this venture for a very determined, self-reliant veteran and human being. Chris has helped a lot of people throughout his life, now let’s see if we can help him back.
Many of you may not know my family and background. I have 2 brothers, but both are not in the traditional sense. The first is biological, and many may have heard me refer to him as the truck-driving, laid-back one. But the other, my foster brother, is who I am looking to talk with you about today. Chris MacGregor came into our lives as I was leaving for college. A friend of my aforementioned biological brother, Michael, he was one that did not have a solid family life. My mother took him in, and he continued to spend much time at the family abode.
Over the years we all grew up and went in drastically different ways and didn’t keep in touch as good as we should have for sure. Chris was a very smart, determined one. He also married younger that the rest of us and was with his wife until she passed in 2009. He knew her from high school, and despite the fact she was in a motorcycle accident, he stuck with her, all the way to the end. She lost a leg in that accident and never completely recovered, but that didn’t deter Chris, as he was a loving husband for over 25 years.
Chris served in 3 branches of service. He started out in the Army for 8 years, reaching the rank of Sargent. After serving there, he enlisted in the Navy, where he served as a corpsman with the Marines. During this tenure, he also served in presidential details during the Bush and Clinton eras, and was part of Operation Desert Storm.
In 1995, he was diagnosed with Becker Muscular Dystrophy. But that didn’t stop him from working. He continued to work in Florida in a variety of fields until the passing of his wife, when he returned to Northern New York. He continued to work as the disease progressed, eventually retiring from the lab on Ft. Drum. He was asked to retire, as the disease had reached a point where he could not hold much with his hands.
After many years of fighting the disease and refusing to use a wheelchair, against his doctors’ advice, the point has come where he is going to need one. He has refused to do this up to this point due to him not being able to purchase a vehicle that can sustain the wheelchair. But in order to continue to be mobile, he will now need this vehicle.
The vehicle is not just a means of transportation but a medical necessity. He lives in Alexandria Bay, New York, and most of his treatment is based at the VA hospital, and through the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) in Syracuse, New York, almost 2 hours away. The medical services he needs are not located in this remote part of New York State, as his disease has reached a point where treatment can not be done locally.
The vehicle is going to be retrofitted to his individual needs by the VA and MDA through grants, but he must have the vehicle first. They will not pay for the vehicle itself but will pay for the expense of making it wheelchair-ready. Also, due to the nature of his disease progression and weather conditions, there are few vehicles that will be able to meet his needs. Yes, he continues to live self-contained without much assistance. He continues to drive the 30 minutes for groceries as well as the 2-hour trek to his medical appointments in Syracuse, living off only of his pension and Social Security.
I know times in this country are tough, but any small donation would get us that much closer to our goal of $20,000. Even if you can’t donate, please share this post with your friends so we can reach a wide array of people. Thank you in advance for your time in reading this, and for any amount you can contribute to this venture for a very determined, self-reliant veteran and human being. Chris has helped a lot of people throughout his life, now let’s see if we can help him back.
Organizer
Noel Ridsdale
Organizer
Boiling Springs, SC
