Bonnie regain her Independence

Hi, my name is Bonnie and I want to start off by saying thank you for taking the time to engage with my campaign. I'm a 33-year-old woman who has Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy. A year and a half ago I fell and broke my right femur. While I have completely healed from the injury, because I was off my feet for such a long period of time, my Muscular Dystrophy has progressed to a point where I am now wheelchair bound. I have had to move back into my parents' home because of this and am having to re-learn how to do almost everything from a seated position. We have definitely come up with creative work arounds, but one area that is hard to work around is transportation.

Before I broke my femur, I was able to drive independently and take myself wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Now a simple trip to go to a store or hang out with friends is such a difficult adventure that I've pretty much become a hermit. This loss of independence is beyond frustrating, and I just want to feel like me again.

I am in the process of trying to buy a wheelchair accessible van, but even for a used 8 year old car with almost 100k miles on it, I am looking at $60-$70K. While I am grateful that I am employed, that is just not money I have. Not to mention that added costs of conversions for and special classes I have to take to be able to drive the car myself. I've looked into grants or government services for funding, but according to the stipulations to qualify I make too much money...but that's a different issue for a different day.

I appreciate any help you can offer and my family and I thank you for your support!