Kaiya Ford

Hello, my granddaughter's name is Kaiya Ford.  Kaiya was born May 25, 2000.  When she reached the age of 6 her health started to decline.  She started to have problems walking, talking and she started to get a curveage in her spine. In 2006 her Mom started taking her to The Kennedy Krieger Institute.   She continued to get progressively worse.  It wasn't until 2016 when she was finally diagnosed with Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis, which is an inherited disorder that primarily affects the nervous system.  It is also known as Batten Disease, a genetic condition that causes degeneration of the brain leading to a terminal illness with no cure.  It can also cause blindness.  Kaiya also suffered with Neuromuscular Scoliosis.  She recently went through major spinal fusion surgery to correct the spine curvature.  The surgery was necessary because the curveage progressively worsened to the point that it affected her internal organs, which were at risk of failure.   The surgery was a success; however, she has lost the little ability she had to walk as well as communicate. She is confined to a wheel chair.   Here’s my plan, and here’s how you can help. The majority of her time will be spent traveling between home and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. She has a plethora of required hospital appointments. Unfortunately, she has no way to get there. I’m asking for your help. I need to purchase a new or used wheelchair accessible van which can be used to transport her back and forth to her appointments. Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Anything! If you can’t donate money, maybe you can provide support by helping me get the word out? Perhaps you can share my link to your Facebook Timeline! I want to thank you all in advance.