Support Larry DeGroat's Journey to Speak Again

My name is Alice and I am the only sister of my brother here, Larry DeGroat. Larry's story consists of a horrific motorcycle accident in 1988 when he was 17 years old. His accident was on September 17, 1988. Since then, our lives have changed drastically. Through this horrible endeavor, we are blessed that he is still here with us 36 years later. Larry was not expected to survive this motorcycle accident. When he was out of surgery in the first 24 hours, we had to make decisions that were incomprehensible. I could never imagine myself without my brother. Since his ordeal, many, many things have happened, and Larry is a sign of strength, a sign of hope, and a sign of love. Larry has not gone out and enjoyed anything for nearly 40 years. Larry has had several brain surgeries. He is with a tracheotomy. Larry is a total quadriplegic dependent upon me, his sister, for his total care—everything that we all do on a normal daily basis, he cannot do. I do this for him. I do everything for him out of the love and honor I have for him. He is a strong soul, and my only wish for him is that I am able to find a way to help him enjoy the quality of life—the qualities of being able to watch a baseball game, be able to watch a football game, be able to watch a basketball game, be able to watch and enjoy life just as everybody else is on the outside. He is stuck on the inside. I have to protect him from elements that can be dangerous to his health and well-being. I am asking that if anybody could please open your hearts and your minds and your thoughts and think of him and possibly want to help him to help me to help him to enjoy these quality moments in life. I would love to travel with him, but the only thing that I don’t have access to is the numerous stops that are going to be needed. I would need for him to travel and stop at a hotel to let him rest for a couple of hours out of his wheelchair. He’s never been anywhere else but home. Our mom was his caregiver at one time until she could no longer, until her last breath, and now it’s my turn. My brother has such an amazing story to tell. I’m in the process of reestablishing him back into a rehab over at Rancho Los Amigos in Downey, California. I am trying to reestablish him back into what he has missed, and that would be trying to do speech therapy through a mechanical device. Although he cannot be rehabbed physically through OT and PT, he can have the opportunity to share with us his story of his being. So I’m reaching out and asking if there’s anybody possibly that has any way that I could help him, give him the quality of life, and have the opportunity to see nature, to see all these things that are so beautiful that we get to see and that he can’t... yet.

Thank you for your time and your consideration in reading my brother's partial story. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this to the end. Forever grateful to the help of others. Thank you.