Support the Laprade Family after ALS Diagnosis and Housefire

UPDATE: As of October 3rd the Laprade family has faced another tragedy. Their home caught on fire and everything was destroyed. Thankfully everyone was able to get out safely. Mark and Sadie have worked very hard to keep Rae-Anne at home while her ALS progresses but now due to the fire they need to find a new home so they can all stay together. Between the care for Rae-Anne, clothes, food, housing, and more, their family needs our help more than ever. Any donation would be greatly appreciated, thank you so much.

Hi there, my name is Sadie Laprade and I thank you for taking a moment to read my family's story. My incredible, beautiful mother, Rae-Anne Laprade, was diagnosed with the crippling, terminal disease, Bulbar ALS in 2021. She retired early from her English teaching career at Putnam Middle/High School where she is beloved and missed by many, shortly after she was diagnosed because her symptoms were greatly affecting her ability to teach as the disease stripped her of her voice before anything else. From that point on, my brave mom began to live her life as if every day would be her last, until March 18th, 2023. On this day, my mom was feeding herself a new nutrition formula through her G-Tube and it made her so nauseous that she aspirated and was hospitalized that same night. From that night on it has been a steady, downhill slope as she quickly lost her ability to breathe without a ventilator 24/7, her ability to walk - we use a Hoyer lift to transfer my mom from her bed to her chair daily - and her ability to move her limbs. She communicates only with her eyes using an Eye Gaze Computer, at least, for now. My dad has taken a leave of absence from work to become a full-time caretaker for my mom, and I help as much as I can by being at home for my parents. However, my dad and I are not enough as my mom is completely immobile, we have had to hire CNAs to help take the best care of mom possible. Our insurance, unfortunately, does not cover the expenses of at-home CNAs nor many necessary, medical supplies such as PureWicks ($450 monthly) which are what we use to control my mom's urine output, or the wheelchair van we bought to take my mom on short trips out of the house; my family also does not qualify for Medicare, even with both of my parents not working full-time.  

For the past 6 months, my parents have been paying over $5,000 MONTHLY out of pocket for our CNAs and Purewicks alone, not including other incidentals. Watching my formerly lively mother decline has been insufferable, but to also witness my proud, selfless, and mourning father undertake the stress of our substantially increased medical expenses while the household's income has significantly decreased is just unbearable.

I'm humbly asking you to contribute to my family to help lessen the financial burden we have unexpectedly had to undergo, in order for us to take the best care of my mom possible while enjoying whatever time we have left with her without the constant worry of paying medical bills.

If you are able to contribute, we humbly thank you so much. If you are unable to contribute financially but would like to help somehow, then please share this! If you are uncomfortable paying through GoFundMe and would like to contribute directly, please contact me. With gratitude, Sadie Laprade.