My name is Michael Smith, and I have had the honor to be Marilyn Smith's son for the last 51 years. She raised me in a way to put other people first, and now it's her time to receive help from her loved ones and her extended community.

Many of you know, and many of you may not know, that my mother has lived with a debilitating form of Parkinson's disease for the last 25 years.

Lately, her health has been deteriorating. It takes all her energy to simply walk across the room with her walker. She can no longer cook or clean and is becoming more and more dependent on my 76-year old father for help, including for dressing herself and going to the bathroom. While he is in good health and does an amazing job, this caregiving task can simply can no longer fall all on him. We need your help for a situation that is rapidly becoming unsustainable.

She spends almost all of her days sitting in a special chair that allows her to be lifted in and out fairly easily. It breaks my heart that she has no choice but to sleep on that same uncomfortable chair in the livingroom at night - because she is not able to lift herself out of a normal bed nor a hospital bed when she needs to go to the bathroom.

My father has identified a special bed that will allow her to be lifted in and out of bed each time she needs to go to the bathroom at night. This bed is one of a kind and costs around $5500.00 Having this bed will be a Godsend for her pain levels, and her energy levels.

My mother Marilyn has been living this way for years. It has been years since she has routinely travelled anywhere other than her livingroom. And despite her challenges, she has the strongest faith of anyone that I know. She is an embodiment of unconditional love. She doesn't complain. And she doesn't usually ask for help. And with this fundraiser, we now have a way to make her life a little more comfortable, give her the help she needs so she can sleep better.

Your donations will go first toward getting her this special new bed ($5500) and then any additional funds will go toward getting her much needed in-home assistance that will help her move, help her go to the bathroom, etc, and to give my father a much needed rest. There have been issues and roadblocks getting any form of government assistance for this.

My parents do not know that my siblings (Lynne and Darren) and I are doing this. We would like to surprise them with your outpouring of generosity and prayers.

So on behalf of all of us in the Smith family, we are so grateful for your support and kindness and prayers! We trust that they will be amplified 10 times or more.