Wheelchair Van for Emily Schaefer
Donation protected
Our beautiful, strong, independent momma, Emily Schaefer, has been diagnosed with a chronic, debilitating disease - CIDP, or Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy. As little as 6 months ago she was completely healthy - living on her own, working 2 part time jobs, volunteering untold hours as the president of her condo association's board or as the president of her congregation'schurch council and visiting her daughters and grandchildren as much as possible. 2 years ago she was literally travelling the world. Today she is confined to a wheelchair, essentially paralyzed from the waist down. She is unable to walk and no longer able to perform daily functions independently & live alone.
Though we initially hoped her monthly IVIG treatments would bring recovery to some degree & walking with assistance of a walker would be our "new normal", that has not turned out to be the case. We now know that her future mobility will be only with the assistance of a wheelchair.
We have months of doctor & specialist visits, hospital & rehab stays, three times a week therapy and all sorts of prescription medications that have begun to add up in the form of co-pays & coinsurance. In addition to that, there are added expenses for traveling to & from these visits, temporary mobility equipment & aids (a wheelchair ramp, slide board, toilet risers, etc.) We have been able to cover these expenses & survive.
The primary & overwhelming expenses we are facing now are related to getting a wheelchair accessible vehicle as well as creating a living environment for Emily that is comfortable and accessible for her in her power chair. These are expenses that Medicare & supplemental insurance do not cover.
We have purchased a wheelchair accessible van at a cost of $43,000. This accessible vehicle will allow Emily to leave the house in her wheelchair - go to doctor's appointments, attend church, go to Target or out to eat with friends. It allows a sense of normalcy in a time when nothing at all is as it used to be. Without the accessible van, we are only able to leave the house by transferring Emily in & out of the car with the help of a slide board and a lot of effort from her & several others to assist.
We are humbly asking for help in offsetting this major unexpected expense to help Emily with this new mobility journey - transporting her power wheels with a mobility van.
Additional details and a look at our journey to this point, along with regular updates can be found on our CaringBridge site here: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/emilyschaefer
Though we initially hoped her monthly IVIG treatments would bring recovery to some degree & walking with assistance of a walker would be our "new normal", that has not turned out to be the case. We now know that her future mobility will be only with the assistance of a wheelchair.
We have months of doctor & specialist visits, hospital & rehab stays, three times a week therapy and all sorts of prescription medications that have begun to add up in the form of co-pays & coinsurance. In addition to that, there are added expenses for traveling to & from these visits, temporary mobility equipment & aids (a wheelchair ramp, slide board, toilet risers, etc.) We have been able to cover these expenses & survive.
The primary & overwhelming expenses we are facing now are related to getting a wheelchair accessible vehicle as well as creating a living environment for Emily that is comfortable and accessible for her in her power chair. These are expenses that Medicare & supplemental insurance do not cover.
We have purchased a wheelchair accessible van at a cost of $43,000. This accessible vehicle will allow Emily to leave the house in her wheelchair - go to doctor's appointments, attend church, go to Target or out to eat with friends. It allows a sense of normalcy in a time when nothing at all is as it used to be. Without the accessible van, we are only able to leave the house by transferring Emily in & out of the car with the help of a slide board and a lot of effort from her & several others to assist.
We are humbly asking for help in offsetting this major unexpected expense to help Emily with this new mobility journey - transporting her power wheels with a mobility van.
Additional details and a look at our journey to this point, along with regular updates can be found on our CaringBridge site here: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/emilyschaefer
Organizer
Lindsey Schaefer
Organizer
Wichita, KS