Carrie Sisson - Collver - Muscular Dystrophy

Hello, my name is Gregg Collver and I am fundraising for my wife Carrie Sisson-Collver. My wife had a career in the medical field for 25 years and sadly she had to retire as of Sept 1st of 2022. Carrie was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy in her mid 20’s and she continued to work until she was 42.

A little bit of Carrie's story that she would like to share with everyone. This is in her own words, "I grew up in a small town of West Guilford, in Haliburton County/Highlands where I lived until leaving to pursue a higher education leading me into the medical field. I watched my Grandmother, 2 Aunts and my Father struggle with Muscular Dystrophy. I would help out wherever I could. Watching my family struggle, I decided I just wanted to help people and went into the medical field. I remember being a late teenager, to my early 20s and my father kept saying I had M.D.. I did not believe him, because I wasn’t struggling like everyone else in my family at my age. I was involved in a bad car accident in 2007, during my rehab from the car accident, my healthcare providers couldn’t understand why I was not healing properly. I was referred to a specialist who diagnosed me with M.D., I didn’t believe him because he focused on my family history and not my symptoms. My specialist referred me to a 2nd neurologist in 2008 who diagnosed me with the same outcome. This specialist sat down and explained everything to me and I believed him. I was around 28 when I finally realized I had this genetic disease too, but I continued to work and was in chronic pain. I’d come home from work and would not want to do anything, on my days off I just wanted to rest. This kept getting worse over the years until the summer of 2022. After increasing and frequent falls with lots of injuries, my husband and I decided that it was time to retire. I was in a lot of pain all the time and my anxiety was getting worse. I was afraid of falling at work in front of people, in the parking lots and not being able to get myself up. There is not enough stubbornness in the world that can fix how bad my falls are, how long it takes to heal and feel better.”

Carrie has a hard time getting around now and we live in a 2 storey home. She has had some major falls but unfortunately, her ability to catch herself is non-existent. She has received some funding through Muscular Dystrophy but she is unable to get any more funding from anywhere else due to her age and my earnings, which is just above the cut-off for any more funding from different areas. I am hoping with reaching out to everyone that I can help my wife get the medical equipment that she needs along with getting some renovations done to help her live a more independent life. We have purchased a few medical devices ourselves and I have done a couple of modifications in the house, but we have used/spent up the majority of our savings to do so. We both don’t like to ask for help, but we are at a point where we are needing to reach out.

We require a stair glide that will ultimately help my wife get up and down the stairs without falling, as well as help her keep her energy levels up for doing things she enjoys. Falling up the stairs happens, but not as often as going down and the number one thing is mobility, as well as getting a way of life back. The estimated cost for a curved stair glide is $16,300 plus taxes.

We also need to revamp the front entrance to include either a ramp or an outdoor lift (like an elevator), that can help her get up to the front door, which will make the front entrance compatible with a walker and wheelchair. With this same idea, we will need to install this on the deck in the backyard so she can access the gardens that she loves to tinker with during the summer. To get around the yard she does have a wheelchair and a walker which is a godsend.

Carrie has received a shower chair and grab bars to help her with bathing but unfortunately, we will need to renovate the shower for easier access.

I am on Gofundme to hopefully get some fundraising that will help in these areas, as I would love to see my loving wife get some of her life back that she so desperately needs. I am a very proud husband that is so grateful to have such a loving and caring wife, she has done so much for me that I would love to see her get some funding to help her everyday life a little more enjoyable than it is at this point.

I would like to thank each one of you ahead of time, for taking the time to read our story and for helping out if you can. You have no idea how much this means to us.

Thank you