ALS Patient Home Access
Donation protected
A few short months before retirement, I was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) ☹️
It’s tough enough to deal with a disease for which there is (as of now) no cure, and very little for treatments.
What most people don’t know about are the costs involved to make your living space handicapped accessible... We live in an in law apartment above our daughter’s garage, my wife (Mama) and I (Papa) live here because our beautiful grand daughters ages 4 and 5 live downstairs. Mama takes care of them during the week, and we want to spend as much time with them as we can.
There is no room for us to move to the first floor, so we had to get estimates for making our bathroom / shower wheelchair accessible.
Then we needed to find a way for me to get downstairs and outside without lifts and transfers... we need an exterior wheelchair lift (outside elevator), so I can get outside more easily.
The bottom line? We have 3 estimates, with the lowest being $75,000... Just so we can stay in our residence. And then there is acquiring a vehicle to accommodate a wheelchair. It’s kind of mind boggling what is needed.
I have been working hard raising awareness and fundraising for both the ALS Association Massachusetts Chapter, and for ALS -TDI. I was not thinking of our own financial issues, until the estimates came in.
Wanting to help us (but unable to), ALS-MA recommended we reach out via go fund me ...
So here we are... I feel bad because we have never had to ask for help for ourselves, we have always tried to help others... desperate times = desperate measures.
Can you help us? Our family would be so grateful ❤️
Sincerely,
Lee Shumway
Hadley MA
http://www.gazettenet.com/Lee-Shumway-ALS-Standing-On-One-Foot-16796239
#LeeShumway
#als
#alspepperchallenge
#alssucks
#alspowerhour
#alsicebucketchallenge
#Amherst
#Hadley
It’s tough enough to deal with a disease for which there is (as of now) no cure, and very little for treatments.
What most people don’t know about are the costs involved to make your living space handicapped accessible... We live in an in law apartment above our daughter’s garage, my wife (Mama) and I (Papa) live here because our beautiful grand daughters ages 4 and 5 live downstairs. Mama takes care of them during the week, and we want to spend as much time with them as we can.
There is no room for us to move to the first floor, so we had to get estimates for making our bathroom / shower wheelchair accessible.
Then we needed to find a way for me to get downstairs and outside without lifts and transfers... we need an exterior wheelchair lift (outside elevator), so I can get outside more easily.
The bottom line? We have 3 estimates, with the lowest being $75,000... Just so we can stay in our residence. And then there is acquiring a vehicle to accommodate a wheelchair. It’s kind of mind boggling what is needed.
I have been working hard raising awareness and fundraising for both the ALS Association Massachusetts Chapter, and for ALS -TDI. I was not thinking of our own financial issues, until the estimates came in.
Wanting to help us (but unable to), ALS-MA recommended we reach out via go fund me ...
So here we are... I feel bad because we have never had to ask for help for ourselves, we have always tried to help others... desperate times = desperate measures.
Can you help us? Our family would be so grateful ❤️
Sincerely,
Lee Shumway
Hadley MA
http://www.gazettenet.com/Lee-Shumway-ALS-Standing-On-One-Foot-16796239
#LeeShumway
#als
#alspepperchallenge
#alssucks
#alspowerhour
#alsicebucketchallenge
#Amherst
#Hadley
Fundraising team: Team Papa (2)
Lee Shumway
Organizer
Hadley, MA
Diane Shumway
Team member