Love for Anabelle

Love for Anabelle is being created out of love by family and friends who seek to help the Vreeland Family with the physical challenges of caring for this beautiful 12-year-old girl. Anyone who knows Anabelle Maria Vreeland, knows what a sweet, loving, funny character she is! Her ability to plow through her daily routine despite the physical and emotional challenges she faces every day is truly amazing. In short, Anabelle has been diagnosed with Idiopathic  Progressive Polyneuropathy, as well as isolated Cerebellar Atrophy and ataxia. Her team of doctors feel there is a genetic cause for these conditions, but even after multiple rounds of genetic testing, no firm diagnosis has been found. Anabelle's birth was textbook. She had a happy, healthy childhood, nothing out of the ordinary. She sang with her mom, danced with her dad, ran and spun circles around everyone! At the age of 6 something changed… Anabelle's hands started to tremble, not a lot at first, but enough that we noticed. She also lost her balance often and her eye movements changed. The onset of these symptoms was slow, and became increasingly worse over time. Her parents, Maria and Roger, sought the care of a neurologist, who ran tests, including an MRI of the brain. In 2015, at 7 years old, Anabelle was diagnosed with Dandy Walker Malformation - a congenital brain malformation involving the cerebellum (an area of the back of the brain that coordinates movement). Her family was also told that her symptoms would never get worse than they were at that moment. Unfortunately, this was a misdiagnosis. Her symptoms changed and progressed over the next few years. She continued to lose her balance more often and the hand tremors worsened. She was moving differently, with more difficulty, losing more coordination and strength. Anabelle's parents sought the help of a different neurologist in 2018 and her diagnosis was changed to isolated cerebellar atrophy. As her symptoms still continued to worsen and progress, the family installed handrails on the walls to help her stay stable. At the time, she utilized a walker for support. The situation continued to decline as Anabelle began having pain in her legs, and weakness in her hands and lower legs and feet. In April of 2019, Anabelle was diagnosed with Idiopathic Progressive Polyneuropathy, an illness where sensory and motor nerves of the peripheral nervous system are affected and no obvious underlying cause is found. As of now, Anabelle spends most of her time in a wheelchair, as she has little to no strength in her legs and arms. She utilizes a motorized wheelchair to move around school and the community. The reality of the situation is that Anabelle will be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Medications help manage some of the symptoms, but there is no cure. Love for Anabelle would like to raise money to help make her home more handicap accessible and friendly. We hope to help cover the costs associated with widening the doorways to each room and changing the flooring so she can maneuver in her wheelchair, as well as the costs associated with remodeling her bathroom, making it handicap accessible to accommodate her needs. All we want is to make life a little easier for this loving family. With your help, we can help Anabelle's parents, Maria and Roger make her quality of life the very best it can be. Please share and thank you in advance for your support!