Wheelchair purchase for Colleen Heinjus

This is Colleen Heinjus. Colleen loves her 5 Grandkids, her 2 dogs Belle and Bond, John Farnham, Pink, Boy George, crafting, walking and of course her high school sweetheart Ken! She owned her own business as a Florist and she was a successful furniture sales star! Colleen is 69 years old and turns 70 on June 15 2020.


Colleen is Ken Heinjus’s beloved wife of 47 years and Mum to Melanie and Rebecca (nice to e-meet you). Mum and Dad were unable to have children or their own so adopted myself and Rebecca from birth.

Colleen was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease on August 9, 2019. Both Ken & Colleen had retired and were living on the aged pension at the time and are at present. 

Given our Mum’s diagnosis, Colleen and Ken decided to give notice to their real estate agent to break their rental lease and to pack up their lives, purchase a caravan with what little superannuation they had left and live in it on Rebecca and her husband Nathan’s  land in Lilydale. Not ideal, but they had planned to travel whilst Rebecca and Nathan built their new home set to be complete in October 2020. We had al processed Mum’s diagnosis and chose to live life to the fullest and enjoy what time we had as a family!

The plan was that once the new home was complete, Mum and Dad would move out of their caravan and into the cottage Rebecca, Nathan and their 3 children currently reside in. 

Tragically, on November 9, 2019, 3 months after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, our Mum Colleen suffered a near fatal Hemorrhagic Stroke. This is when an artery in the brain bursts, it was a significant bleed. The damage has been catastrophic and we were given the option to aggressively treat Mum or let her go. Knowing our Mum, we gave her every fighting chance. She has overcome a lot of adversity including breast Cancer. 

Our Mum Colleen spent weeks in an acute stroke ward at Box Hill hospital in Melbourne, then moved to transitional care, now currently in rehab (February 4, 2020). Whilst she has defied some odds, unfortunately she is not tolerating rehab where she is and has regressed Neurologically. We have been forced to make the difficult decision to place her in long term aged care. At this stage, she may never get to live out her dream of being in a cottage on a farm, with the love of her life, curating her garden and veggie patch, walking her dogs or spending active time with her family. Given the complexities of her brain injuries and her Alzheimer’s disease advancing rapidly it’s the reality. It has been a major shock to our family, to our Dad Ken and we are all grieving what we have lost, what our Mum has lost. We were not prepared. Yet who is? 

She will be heading to a high care private community as a fully Government funded patient, she needs to be hoisted in and out of bed by two people into a specialized wheelchair to engage in any activities within her aged care community, to go on short trips and to participate in vital therapy that may in fact stimulate some muscle and nerve activation again. She also needs to be hoisted by 2 people to be showered as she is unable to move independently. She has a deficit left side of her body that is non functional. She also needs assistance eating. 

The cost to hire this specific wheelchair is $65 per week. To purchase this chair is $3,500. It is a ‘tilt in space wheelchair with pressure cushion’ to sit out of bed. Mum is not eligible to receive funding for equipment as she will be a fully funded resident. She will also require a ‘tilt in space commode’ for showering. 

As a family we are unable to generate these funds and they’re not supplied by her new aged care home. Any additional monies raised will be used for equipment required for rehabilitation, specialized therapies such as Neuro-Physiotherapy, Neuro-Psychiatry and any other therapeutic needs that are not covered within her existing funding eligibility. 

Any amount you can spare to help our Mum is obviously so greatly appreciated by my Dad, Ken, who himself has just been discharged from an in-patient rehabilitation ward after contracting Influenza A, Pneumonia and a secondary bacterial infection in his chest. 

Myself (Melanie) and my sister Rebecca can’t thank you all enough for taking the time to read Mum’s story. It is very difficult to ask for help.