Help Kate Get a Wheelchair for POTS!

Hi! My name is Kate, and I am a 19-year-old college student studying speech therapy at Hofstra University. I struggle with a disability called POTS, short for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. This condition affects my autonomic nervous system, which controls all of your basic body functions, like your heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, sweating, digestion, urination, and basically any body function you don't consciously control. When I'm standing or walking, my pulse rate spikes to extremely high levels, sometimes as high as 200 beats per minute. My blood pressure is also impacted, causing me to pass out and lose consciousness. Obviously, this is a problem. Because I am a first-year college student, I do not have access to a car on campus, which means I must walk to my classes. However, my disability prevents me from walking safely. I have fainted numerous times around campus and ended up in the emergency room more times than I can count. At this point, I can no longer safely walk around. My only option to stay in school is a wheelchair.

My academics are suffering, and I can't get to my classes. This puts me at risk of being withdrawn from the university. School is my life. Becoming a speech therapist is the one thing that brings me pure joy. If I can't go to school and do what I love, I don't know what I'll do. I need to be here in New York, learning and living and experiencing my late teens and early twenties. A wheelchair will allow me to live my life. I hate asking for help, and I hate asking for money even more. But I'm at a loss. Wheelchairs are expensive. The one I need is about $1,700. I can't swing that on my own, and insurance can't help me right now. If you can spare even a dollar, anything helps. Thank you for helping me to live the life I've worked so hard to have.