Wheelchair-accessible van needed

Meg is a young woman living in Yarmouth, Massachusetts with her mother, Debbie.  She was born with cerebral palsy and developed epilepsy early in her childhood. She requires a wheelchair for mobility and uses adaptive sign language and an Augmentative  Communication  device for speech. 
 
Her current wheelchair van is a 2004 model that her mother purchased used 15 years ago for over $40,000! The van has over 150,000 miles on it and has undergone a myriad of repairs in the last 5 years costing thousands of dollars. In August, the van spent over 4 weeks in the shop for repairs, leaving Meg essentially homebound during that time. Debbie has been given a list of necessary repairs for the future. 
A wheelchair accessible van allows Meghann to stay active in her community. She enjoys using her running chair in local 5K road races with  help from her friends.  Meg also loves sailing with the Sail Cape Cod and cycling with Spaulding's Adaptive Sports. 
 
Meg’s day-program closed due to COVID in March of 2020 and remained closed for almost a year. Meg no longer had her day-program to look forward to. As things started to improve this past Spring, Meghann suffered a life-threatening medical emergency when her seizures became uncontrollable. She was put into a medically induced coma and airlifted from Cape Cod Hospital to Beth Israel- Lahey’s ICU. Meg stayed in the hospital for several weeks and eventually returned home with complications from  intubation. In the months following her illness, she was in and out of Cape Cod Hospital during her recovery and receiving in-home nursing and rehab support. This past September, Meghann was discharged from home health services and is continuing outpatient care to monitor her recovery progress. 
 
Having safe and reliable transportation is essential for Meg to attend outpatient appointments to continue her recovery, and to rejoin her community that she loves so much.
 
Please consider helping us raise the funds for a wheelchair accessible van for her by donating and/or sharing with others. Or join our list of local businesses who have hosted a fundraiser, donated items for a raffle or made a monetary donation. Thank you for taking the time to read Meghann’s story. We are so grateful for the support of our Cape Cod community!