Kayson Graham

I am Kayson's mom. Kayson has been a very medically complex child since birth; he is now 8 years old. Today, we wanted to start raising funds for a trip we will be taking in a few days to do his FIRST "Intensive Therapy." The only intensive therapies are out of state for us. I have been trying to find Kayson an intensive therapy since he was a toddler but never had any luck finding one that takes our insurance in Wisconsin. Plus, my previous job made it hard to take any time off, let alone a whole week. Finally, I was able to find an intensive therapy in Chicago. It took a few weeks to get all the paperwork, doctors/therapy notes, and insurance approval, but we did it just in time for my already approved whole week off of work before school starts! Yay! Since we finally were approved the other day, I tried to get a referral to the Ronald McDonald House, but they have a long waitlist and were told they have been at full capacity for a while. I also got a referral to the Guest House, which is not free but way cheaper than regular hotels, but they are also at full capacity. Which means although we are already scheduled for every day next week for these intensive therapies, we do not have a place to stay yet. Hotels are ranging from $450-$1000 for the week, plus meals, and gas for a 7-hour round trip down to Chicago and back for the week. We may also hit up the Shedd Aquarium or something fun, as after therapy is done around 1 pm each day, we have the rest of the day being stuck in Chicago while we wait for the next day's therapy to start. I am beyond excited to see Kayson's physical progress after this week is done as I have dreamed of getting him into an intensive program for many years, but now that we finally got here, I'm hit with not having appropriate accommodations for us to stay outside of our home city/state. Kayson has never been anywhere outside of Wisconsin as physically it's a very challenging task for me to do any trips with him, especially alone for a whole week. Usually, any extended stays anywhere were in the hospital, and all his needs were met at the hospital, and I could stay across the street in the Milwaukee Ronald McDonald House to have my needs met for sleep and meals. Anything helps! I will also try to make a video about his progress during this awesome therapy process. If all goes well, we will definitely want to do another one the next time I have a whole week off work. My next project will probably be to go to Panama for stem cell therapy as I have heard wonderful things about it! Thank you for your help getting Kayson what he needs to progress his mobility (hoping we can get him to stand without assistance), talking or at least words, or the ability to help with small things like getting dressed or basic daily cares. Right now, he can crawl, he can stand only if hanging onto something, he can only eat pureed foods as he has super low mouth muscles, and he is non-verbal among many other things. We're hoping we can get him to progress to the next level. We already do weekly PT, OT, and SLP in our area for 45 minutes once weekly. With intensive therapies like the one in Chicago, they do daily sessions and use other equipment and techniques that the regular therapies in our area do not use. I'm praying this is what gives him the boost he needs to be just a tad bit more independent and the ability to stand without assistance, which would help me and school with his transfers as he is getting too heavy for us to do anymore. Thank you!!