Help Give My Mom a Wheelchair
Donation protected
My mom, Janet Williams, is a 55-year-old single mother with sporadic Inclusion Body Myositis . It is a rare, progressive autoimmune and degenerative muscle disease with no known treatment or cure. The most affected muscles are in the legs, feet, arms, hands, and throat.
My mom has to use a power scooter, which is too large to use in the house, when going out and currently uses a walker inside at home, but her condition has worsened to the point that a walker is no longer feasible. After several falls and accompanying injuries, it is clear that she will need a power wheelchair.
Unfortunately, her insurance is unwilling to cover the cost of this essential piece of medical equipment.
A new chair would cost $18,937, but my mom has found a used one with all the features she needs for $5,700.
Even at this reduced cost, however, the chair is beyond anything that our family can afford. After taking a medical retirement from her work helping low-income senior citizens find employment, my mom relies on disability, which only just barely covers her basic living expenses. Individually, my brother and I make at or less than $15,000 a year, so the chair would be over a third of our incomes.
Despite her physical and economic disadvantages, my mom is still a kind, generous, and giving person, as anyone who has met her will tell you. She volunteers as an online tutor for at-risk youth and an online crisis counselor.
The need for this wheelchair is imperative and urgent. The ability to maneuver around her home without the risk of falling is essential to my mom's mental and physical wellbeing.
Please give whatever you can to make this wheelchair a possibility. Thank you for your generosity.
My mom has to use a power scooter, which is too large to use in the house, when going out and currently uses a walker inside at home, but her condition has worsened to the point that a walker is no longer feasible. After several falls and accompanying injuries, it is clear that she will need a power wheelchair.
Unfortunately, her insurance is unwilling to cover the cost of this essential piece of medical equipment.
A new chair would cost $18,937, but my mom has found a used one with all the features she needs for $5,700.
Even at this reduced cost, however, the chair is beyond anything that our family can afford. After taking a medical retirement from her work helping low-income senior citizens find employment, my mom relies on disability, which only just barely covers her basic living expenses. Individually, my brother and I make at or less than $15,000 a year, so the chair would be over a third of our incomes.
Despite her physical and economic disadvantages, my mom is still a kind, generous, and giving person, as anyone who has met her will tell you. She volunteers as an online tutor for at-risk youth and an online crisis counselor.
The need for this wheelchair is imperative and urgent. The ability to maneuver around her home without the risk of falling is essential to my mom's mental and physical wellbeing.
Please give whatever you can to make this wheelchair a possibility. Thank you for your generosity.
Organizer and beneficiary
Kelsey Ann
Organizer
Rockford, IL
Janet Williams
Beneficiary
