Bonita Dover - ALS - Bucket List

My name is Alicia, and I am creating this fundraiser to support my mother Bonita Dover who was recently diagnosed with Bulbar ALS after 14 months of not knowing the cause of her declining health.

Bonita’s life has never been easy, anyone who knows her knows she has been forced to fight her entire life. She raised 3 children mostly as a single mom, and did everything she could to make sure we all had what we needed as children. While struggling with debilitating panic disorder, she did her best to provide for us.

A few years ago, I was so impressed as she began facing her panic disorder. She was leaving the house often, volunteering at the AMVETS, going to movies, flying to FL to visit her son and granddaughter and taking her other grandchildren out for day trips. Finally she was LIVING again, I remember crying tears of joy watching her doing things that made her smile.

In July of 2022, Bonita was hospitalized after her brother noticed her speech was off. After getting CT scans, it was determined she had a minor stroke. With speech and physical therapy we saw improvements over the next 6 weeks. Hopes were high, from what we could tell this wasn’t going to derail her ability to live.

Unfortunately, on December 23, 2022, she was once again hospitalized. In the late, dark hours of the morning, her tongue swelled to the point her breathing was short and she felt like she was choking. She couldn’t even take a sip of water, as her tongue could not move it to the back of her throat. During that hospital stay they ran many tests including another CT scan. They assumed this was another mini-stroke but that did not align entirely with her symptoms and the findings from the CT scan. We left with no answers and have spent the last 9 months getting many tests done, with many specialists.

Finally, we got the referral to see an ALS specialist and saw her on September 28th, 2023. There we got the heartbreaking diagnosis that she does have Bulbar ALS.

Life expectancy is about 2 years, and we may already be 14 months into that timeline.

Due to her panic disorder, there are many things she has never done and always wanted to. With that, I want to do anything I can to make sure she can check off her bucket list before the ALS spreads even more, losing mobility. Thank you for considering donating to this cause.