Wheels for my Warrior, Jackson!

Hi All,

As many know, we live a special yet so rewarding life with Jackson LeRoy. Jackson was born November 14, 2014. I had a healthy pregnancy & he came into this world at a solid 8lbs 7oz. The night he was born, the nurses had to take him to the NICU due to fluid in his lungs. I had no idea the road we would soon venture down together. With the love and support of my family, especially our beloved Nanny & Papa, I had the perfect village and continuously get proven that time after time.

Through Jacksons first year of life we started to notice that he wasn't meeting what the world considers "normal" milestones for an infant. Thus leading us into a program called Birth to 3 that provided at home therapy services, and into Early Childhood where Jackson attending "Pre-School" in a school setting and received therapy during the day. Additionally he received outpatient Physical, Occupational and Speech therapy through LifeScape. In November of 2015, just a few days shy of his FIRST birthday, Jackson had a Chiari Malformation Decompression (brain surgery, AKA Zipper Brain). I was so scared to lay my tiny human in the hands of a surgeon but I knew my son needed the relief on his little brain. I would lying if I said I didn’t lose myself after that for a bit, but with the guidance of some very special people in my life I was able to come to my sense & realized I needed to be the best I could be for my boy.

Through the years Jackson has had countless visits to clinics, for minor and even major things. His therapies continued to this day, we had specialist after specialist to follow up with, numerous hospital stays, EEG’s, MRI’s, surgeries & never ending day to day things like school. He was diagnosed Autistic in 2019 which opened a lot of doors for us as far as resources to help him succeed. This will forever be our normal & I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

As many of you know, I am Jackson’s sole provider. I carry him through every day, literally. He’s non-verbal, immobile & yet still the happiest boy you’d meet in this world. Jackson turns 10 in November & the older he gets the bigger he gets which makes it harder and harder for me to keep up with him physically. I have made small but substantial accommodations to our home to make every little daily thing easier on us, like a wheelchair ramp at our front door & in the process of potentially getting a automatic door for our front door (unfortunately due to renting it’s taking longer to find something that can be taken with us when we move).

The next biggest thing I have been researching is a conversion van, which as you can imagine is a very costly purchase. We are very fortunate to have Family Support 360 that is able to help cover a small portion of it but that doesn’t begin to do justice and make this an affordable purchase for Jackson. I work hard for everything the boys & I have in life and feel a huge sense of accomplishment knowing that I have been able to solely provide for them thus far in life. However, at this point in life I find myself having to put my pride aside and ask for help, which if you know me will always be the LAST thing I ever want to do. An average reliable Conversion vehicle can cost anywhere from $60,000 - $105,000. Family Support 360 is able to cover the quoted cost of the conversion addition to the vehicle but nothing beyond that. So here I stand, trying to not feel ashamed, asking for a financial helping hand.

Any amount is an absolute blessing in this course of life for us & will leave me feeling forever in debt to you for graciously giving. I have a set goal of $5,000 and do not expect to meet that, but in the event it succeeds it will be put in full to the balance of the van I purchase.

I am also set up on Venmo & CashApp.

Venmo: Tiffany-Lonning

CashApp: $TiffanyLonning