Do it for Deb
Donation protected
Most of you know Deb Cozart as the witty, outgoing, fun and uplifting person she is. Most of you also know that she has been living with a disease called Multiple Sclerosis (MS) since 1999. It has come to a time where Deb needs more than just her medication to stabilize or improve her quality of life. As her daughter writing this, it has been very difficult seeing her progress over the years with little to no idea of how to help keep her independence. Her doctor has always recommended therapy, but it was something we could never afford for the duration needed to make an actual impact. At this point, she needs something more than just regular therapy.
This is why we started a gofundme to help us raise money for Deb to get therapy from Plasticity Centers in Orlando. Here, they will work with her to help improve on some of the things that frankly just make life difficult. They will help work on her unstable gait so she can walk better without assistance or risk of falling (and keep her out of a wheelchair for as long as possible!). They will help work on her tremor that makes it difficult for her to do daily tasks like drinking water, brushing her teeth, getting dressed, and even eating food. They will help improve her cognitive ability like memory and awareness with different tools and exercises tailored to her situation.
Some of you reading this may not realize that her condition is actually this bad. This is partly due to how difficult it is to communicate to family and friends that she is in fact, not doing so well. We learned at her recent neurologist visit that her current medication no longer serves the purpose it once did due to the fact that the disease has simply just progressed with time and age. Unfortunately, there are not many options when it comes to switching medications and we are going to other neurologists for their opinions on next steps. But for now, we want to make sure that she gets physically taken care of to help improve her quality of life. Please consider helping us or sharing this link to anyone you know that could help. Every penny counts and would be a blessing from anyone who can help.
About Plasticity Centers:
https://www.plasticitycenters.com/
Plasticity Centers is a non-invasive neurological clinic that focuses on the brains ability to create new pathways after the old ones have been lost or damaged from diseases like MS.
When the brain creates a new pathway, that is called neuroplasticity. Think of the brain as a busy spaghetti junction highway and a disease like MS being an accident or road block causing all sorts of problems. The only way to get around this road block is to either use another road or create a new path. Our brains are capable of doing this, given the right tools and stimulation. The doctors at plasticity have perfected (and are still perfecting) the understanding of creating new roads in our brains and are the top clinicians in their field! I (Mia Cozart) have volunteered and shadowed there for about 3 years and have seen and heard countless stories of patients changing their quality of life. I would not personally want my mom to go there if I didn't agree or see the great things they do for people and the way they treat their patients as if they were their family members.
Here is a great mission statement from their website that sums it all up:
"Our goal is to make clients feel independent and more capable through neurological rehabilitation and recovery. We provide an alternative neurological solution to medications, surgery and traditional therapy that may not have worked for clients in the past. Through innovative therapy regimens that address the specific needs of each client, we apply the science of neuroplasticity and industry-leading diagnostic tools to restore and enhance function in the brain."
About Multiple Sclerosis (MS):
MS is an autoimmune disease where the immune system gets confused and mistakes parts of the body as foreign invaders (like germs that cause viruses and infections) and uses it's power of inflammation to try and get rid of it. In MS, the immune system thinks that the protective coating around neurons in the brain and spinal cord, called myelin, is a foreign invader. This causes an excessive amount of inflammation in the brain and spinal cord and causes patients, like Deb, to have an array of different neurological deficits like difficulty walking, tremor, difficulty swallowing, memory issues, bladder incontinence and much more. Unfortunately, there is no cure for MS and the medications available only do their best to slow the progression of the disease. With time and age, MS only gets worse and there are fewer medications to help with the complications of the disease leaving nerve cells exposed to damage that is irreversible. For this reason, it is critical that people with MS stay on top of their health and quality of life through diet, exercise, therapy and more.
If you made it through reading this whole thing, thank you, I love you! If you didn't but still donated, I love you also! If you read this and can't donate, I love you too! Please share this to someone you think could help! - Love the Cozart Family
This is why we started a gofundme to help us raise money for Deb to get therapy from Plasticity Centers in Orlando. Here, they will work with her to help improve on some of the things that frankly just make life difficult. They will help work on her unstable gait so she can walk better without assistance or risk of falling (and keep her out of a wheelchair for as long as possible!). They will help work on her tremor that makes it difficult for her to do daily tasks like drinking water, brushing her teeth, getting dressed, and even eating food. They will help improve her cognitive ability like memory and awareness with different tools and exercises tailored to her situation.
Some of you reading this may not realize that her condition is actually this bad. This is partly due to how difficult it is to communicate to family and friends that she is in fact, not doing so well. We learned at her recent neurologist visit that her current medication no longer serves the purpose it once did due to the fact that the disease has simply just progressed with time and age. Unfortunately, there are not many options when it comes to switching medications and we are going to other neurologists for their opinions on next steps. But for now, we want to make sure that she gets physically taken care of to help improve her quality of life. Please consider helping us or sharing this link to anyone you know that could help. Every penny counts and would be a blessing from anyone who can help.
About Plasticity Centers:
https://www.plasticitycenters.com/
Plasticity Centers is a non-invasive neurological clinic that focuses on the brains ability to create new pathways after the old ones have been lost or damaged from diseases like MS.
When the brain creates a new pathway, that is called neuroplasticity. Think of the brain as a busy spaghetti junction highway and a disease like MS being an accident or road block causing all sorts of problems. The only way to get around this road block is to either use another road or create a new path. Our brains are capable of doing this, given the right tools and stimulation. The doctors at plasticity have perfected (and are still perfecting) the understanding of creating new roads in our brains and are the top clinicians in their field! I (Mia Cozart) have volunteered and shadowed there for about 3 years and have seen and heard countless stories of patients changing their quality of life. I would not personally want my mom to go there if I didn't agree or see the great things they do for people and the way they treat their patients as if they were their family members.
Here is a great mission statement from their website that sums it all up:
"Our goal is to make clients feel independent and more capable through neurological rehabilitation and recovery. We provide an alternative neurological solution to medications, surgery and traditional therapy that may not have worked for clients in the past. Through innovative therapy regimens that address the specific needs of each client, we apply the science of neuroplasticity and industry-leading diagnostic tools to restore and enhance function in the brain."
About Multiple Sclerosis (MS):
MS is an autoimmune disease where the immune system gets confused and mistakes parts of the body as foreign invaders (like germs that cause viruses and infections) and uses it's power of inflammation to try and get rid of it. In MS, the immune system thinks that the protective coating around neurons in the brain and spinal cord, called myelin, is a foreign invader. This causes an excessive amount of inflammation in the brain and spinal cord and causes patients, like Deb, to have an array of different neurological deficits like difficulty walking, tremor, difficulty swallowing, memory issues, bladder incontinence and much more. Unfortunately, there is no cure for MS and the medications available only do their best to slow the progression of the disease. With time and age, MS only gets worse and there are fewer medications to help with the complications of the disease leaving nerve cells exposed to damage that is irreversible. For this reason, it is critical that people with MS stay on top of their health and quality of life through diet, exercise, therapy and more.
If you made it through reading this whole thing, thank you, I love you! If you didn't but still donated, I love you also! If you read this and can't donate, I love you too! Please share this to someone you think could help! - Love the Cozart Family
Organizer
Mia Cozart
Organizer
Oviedo, FL