Caitlin's Wheelchair Campaign
Donation protected
Hey guys!
My name is Forest and I am a 6 year old, smooth coated collie. I work full time as a cardiac alert service dog for my mom, Caitlin, and graduated from Canine Partners for Life. My mom has a number of chronic medical conditions that cause a whole bunch of different symptoms that I help her with. Her conditions require her to have multiple surgeries (over 100 so far), cause severe fatigue, loss of consciousness, brain fog, dizziness, frequent joint dislocations, numbness/tingling in extremities, and a ton of other stuff.
So far, mom and I have been able to deal with all these problems but last year, she developed a new condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Now my mom lives with constant, unrelenting, excruciating pain in both of her legs. We've seen tons of doctors, ran all the tests, and tried all the medicines but we still can't seem to get her pain under control. On good days, mom can power through the pain (with my help, of course) and we do just fine. But when we've done too much walking or the weather turns colder, her pain becomes unbearable. When her legs really hurt her, mom's feet drag along the ground and she tends to trip a lot. Without my help, I'm afraid she'd fall and hurt herself. Last winter, mom and I had to miss a lot of work because the cold caused her legs to hurt so bad. There were many days she physically couldn't stand or walk around the office to do her job. Even with me there to help! Some days, she could barely make it from the couch to the bathroom she was in so much pain.
The doctor told my mom that she should get a manual wheelchair to use on really bad pain days. We started the process but those insurance people (whom my mom seems to really hate for some reason) said they could only give us a big, bulky, bottom-line manual chair. Unfortunately this wheelchair wouldn't fit in our car and it's so heavy, it would be really hard for mom to maneuver in. I'm worried it would cause her shoulders to dislocate and increase her fatigue. So! I took matters into my own paws!
I did some research and found a different wheelchair that is super lightweight and breaks down into several pieces so it'd fit nicely into our car. The kicker is that insurance won't help us pay for it. So I'm turning to you lovely people for help!
Please consider donating even just $5 to get my mom this wheelchair. With this new chair, we'll be able to make it to work, even when mom's having a really bad pain day. We can start to go on fun trips again like to the mall, museums, or on family outings (which we couldn't do before because walking made her legs hurt more). But most importantly, it'll make my job MUCH easier!! I won't have to help mom teeter around on bad days by providing physical support, I won't have to constantly worry about her falling, and most of all, I won't have to see her hurt when her body keeps her from doing the things she loves.
So please consider donating if you're able. Even the smallest donations get us closer to our goal! And please share this page with anyone and everyone you know. Your help is truly appreciated.
Thank you all SOOOO much!!
Forest
Service Dog Extraordinaire
My name is Forest and I am a 6 year old, smooth coated collie. I work full time as a cardiac alert service dog for my mom, Caitlin, and graduated from Canine Partners for Life. My mom has a number of chronic medical conditions that cause a whole bunch of different symptoms that I help her with. Her conditions require her to have multiple surgeries (over 100 so far), cause severe fatigue, loss of consciousness, brain fog, dizziness, frequent joint dislocations, numbness/tingling in extremities, and a ton of other stuff.
So far, mom and I have been able to deal with all these problems but last year, she developed a new condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Now my mom lives with constant, unrelenting, excruciating pain in both of her legs. We've seen tons of doctors, ran all the tests, and tried all the medicines but we still can't seem to get her pain under control. On good days, mom can power through the pain (with my help, of course) and we do just fine. But when we've done too much walking or the weather turns colder, her pain becomes unbearable. When her legs really hurt her, mom's feet drag along the ground and she tends to trip a lot. Without my help, I'm afraid she'd fall and hurt herself. Last winter, mom and I had to miss a lot of work because the cold caused her legs to hurt so bad. There were many days she physically couldn't stand or walk around the office to do her job. Even with me there to help! Some days, she could barely make it from the couch to the bathroom she was in so much pain.
The doctor told my mom that she should get a manual wheelchair to use on really bad pain days. We started the process but those insurance people (whom my mom seems to really hate for some reason) said they could only give us a big, bulky, bottom-line manual chair. Unfortunately this wheelchair wouldn't fit in our car and it's so heavy, it would be really hard for mom to maneuver in. I'm worried it would cause her shoulders to dislocate and increase her fatigue. So! I took matters into my own paws!
I did some research and found a different wheelchair that is super lightweight and breaks down into several pieces so it'd fit nicely into our car. The kicker is that insurance won't help us pay for it. So I'm turning to you lovely people for help!
Please consider donating even just $5 to get my mom this wheelchair. With this new chair, we'll be able to make it to work, even when mom's having a really bad pain day. We can start to go on fun trips again like to the mall, museums, or on family outings (which we couldn't do before because walking made her legs hurt more). But most importantly, it'll make my job MUCH easier!! I won't have to help mom teeter around on bad days by providing physical support, I won't have to constantly worry about her falling, and most of all, I won't have to see her hurt when her body keeps her from doing the things she loves.
So please consider donating if you're able. Even the smallest donations get us closer to our goal! And please share this page with anyone and everyone you know. Your help is truly appreciated.
Thank you all SOOOO much!!
Forest
Service Dog Extraordinaire
Organizer
Caitlin Case
Organizer
Strasburg, PA