Please help me so I can buy a closed winter scooter

Hi, my name is Ninette and I live in Belgium with my husband and 4 cats.

I had a spinal stroke back in 2018, which left me paralysed from the chest down, resulted in chronic pain and also made me lose most of my sense of balance. I almost died afterwards during the surgery to remove a hematoma from my spinal cord and that caused a serious case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on top of everything else. It was hell for a while and a complete life change. Thankfully I learned to walk a little bit again -using a walker- but it’s very painful. 8 years later I’m still recovering and there are weeks -or even months- that I don’t leave my bedroom, as it simply hurts too much. On top of all this, on January 31 I got told that my sciatic nerve in my right leg is seriously damaged inside, which makes the chronic pain worse and walking even more difficult, if not impossible for more than a few meters.

Last year I did a GoFundMe to buy a mobility scooter so that I could go outside and drive in the large park that’s next door to where I live. The campaign went very well and I had such a good time on the scooter: meeting people along the way, having nice talks, enjoying nature… But in October it became colder and the doctor said I couldn’t go outside anymore, as my nervous system is also damaged and when it’s too cold, the neck arteries going to my brain could ‘clam up’, which might result in another stroke.

So I stayed inside -and that’s where I still am. Feeling very lonely and isolated: the only people I see are my husband and sometimes my children and it’s killing me both mentally and physically- in fact I start to act awkward lately when in company. Not good. I want to live again!

Last month I discovered that my scooter can be customised: they can add a roof, doors, windows -and even a heater! But that costs a lot of money and I live on a retirement pension of 1200 euros per month, of which I already spend over half on rent alone.

Which is why I decided to start a new GoFundMe in the hope that many small donations will make for an amount that’s high enough to pay for the scooter customisation, or alternatively purchase a ready made X-Cabin, preferably at a reduced price.

This still won't be cheap: the most affordable option costs 8.900 euros -and 9.800 euros with its doors painted in a brighter colour for more safety-, while the safest version with the best suspension and a heater (the red one pictured in the banner) costs over 20.000 (!) euros, so I decided to organise this new GoFundMe campaign. I'm not really used to asking things for myself, but as such a closed 'winter' scooter would give me a lot of new freedom in the darker and colder months, I faced my fear and did it anyway.

Thank you in advance for your support and have a wonderful -and above all peaceful- New Year!