Help us get a wheelchair accessible vehicle.

Hi, My name is Melissa. I am the wife of a most amazing man who had the unfortunate events unfold in his young life. In 2021, before his 48th birthday, my husband Matthew, suffered a hypertensive hemorrhagic brain bleed, leaving his right side paralyzed. He has regained his speech, but mobility has become a challenge for him. After much physical therapy and great difficulty, he had been trying to independently maneuver his manual wheelchair. This proved to create more pain in his abled side.

He was approved and received a motorized wheelchair, which has made his mobility in the house much less painful. The only drawback of this now is his ability to attend functions or go to outings with ease. We have two choices: 1-we can either use his manual wheelchair, that I would fold up and "toss " in the back of my car, (which is not getting to be an easy task for myself) and be dependent on someone else for his mobility, or 2-have him in the car waiting 20 to 45 minutes for me to put his motorized wheelchair on the carrier (that I would have to hook up onto my car) tie it down, cover the chair and secure that cover, before we could go anywhere. That time frame is only putting it on the carrier! He then has to again, wait another 20-30 minutes for me to unhook all tie downs, then make several attempts to back his chair off the carrier.

All of this quality time between the two of us, or him enjoying an activity, is wasted in my battling to secure/unsecure his chair. We do not go out unless he has MD appointments because of those difficulties, so he is basically a shut in. I would LOVE to see him have the ability to get in and out of the vehicle of his own volition. The process of him being able to have independent mobility to go out and enjoy life, not having the continual feeling of dependence, would be the greatest gift that I would love to share with him. I'm sure it's frustrating for him to continually be dependent for any mobility. I have not been able to find any type of grants or funding for us due to the fact that they are for SPECIFIC diagnosis. (ie Spinal cord injuries, MS, CP)

A wheelchair accessible vehicle is not cheap! When you purchase this type of vehicle, you pay for the vehicle as well as the conversion that was installed in the vehicle that makes it accessible. This is what makes them so much more costly. All of which I cannot do on my own. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you