A gift for a devoted mother to care for her quadriplegic daughter
SAL DIMICELI
Dear W.C.,
I am a 55-year-old mother with a disabled daughter. I am her full-time caregiver as she needs care around the clock. When my daughter was 21, she was in a terrible car accident that left her paralyzed and with a traumatic brain injury. She is now
26 and even with several surgeries she will not improve beyond her present function. She has a feeding tube and very limited use of her arms. I have used all her settlement funds from the accident to purchase a used wheelchair accessible van, a Hoyer lift, a wheelchair, a hospital bed, made adaptations to my home for her wheelchair and other items to make her care a little easier. I recently had repairs done to the van that cost over $4,000. I took out a loan that I will be unable to make payments on due to the high interest rate. The rest came out of what was left of the remaining settlement funds. Now I am afraid the van needs another repair. Before my daughter's accident I had worked full-time my whole life. I have never been in the position of asking for financial help, even as a single mother raising my daughter on my own. I live in fear of the wheelchair accessible van breaking down as it is my daughter's lifeline to her medical care and therapies. Please call me or stop by any time to discuss this further.
Dear Readers,
I made the phone call to this devoted mother. She had set aside her own life to make a lifetime decision to care for her disabled daughter full-time. I respected her for putting her daughter's needs before her own. I set up a time to visit so I could personally check out their situation and look over the van.
When I arrived, we went right into a deep conversation while the daughter was reclined in her wheelchair close by. The mother told me about how her daughter had become a quadriplegic and the extent of her traumatic brain injury. It was a tragic story that left the daughter in a mildly vegetative state. Her consciousness came and went as some days she was more responsive than others. On the day I was there she was not very responsive as the mother introduced me. The mother told me how she could no longer swallow and required a feeding tube. The daughter needed help to do all daily activities such as personal care and hygiene. With that understanding we moved on to talking about their current needs.
I asked many questions about the used wheelchair accessible van she had purchased five years prior. After looking over the van, I felt the van could still provide safe transportation for a few more years. It was in good condition but needed one costly repair to the wheelchair lift to make it safe again.
We went over their budget line by line. She shared their income and what the mother earned as the daughter's paid family caregiver. It was just enough to get by each month without any extraordinary expenses, but with adjustments made to their budget, and paying off the high interest loan she had taken out to pay for the wheelchair accessible van repairs, they could manage going forward. That would only be possible if we also provided the additional necessary repair to provide safe and reliable transportation for the mother and daughter.
Additional assistance was provided by paying off one of their high utility bills that remained from the past winter and adding gift cards for food and toiletries the daughter needed to remain comfortable. With the stress over the loan removed the devoted mother would be able to stay on their budget. I was also happy we could remove the worry of unsafe and unreliable transportation from her already burdened shoulders.
I waited as the mother cried tears of relief that she rarely got to cry. She had remained strong throughout our conversation and for the past five years while taking on the daily care of her beloved daughter. I let her have a moment to shed her tears and as she collected herself, she asked, "When I wrote that letter, I never expected all this. How can I ever repay you?" I replied, "This is a gift from all of us at The Time is Now to Help. There is no need to repay us." She said, "This truly is a gift. My daughter cannot say thank you, but I know if she could understand fully what you have done for us, she would be so grateful, too." Thank you for your donations that allow us to provide life-changing poverty relief that brings happy tears of relief, relief from the fear, hunger, and stress of poverty.
Today we were blessed with a new matching grant opportunity. Thank you to Carolyn Gable for providing the Carolyn J. Gable Foundation $25,000 Matching Grant! Every donation at this time will be matched dollar for dollar by the Carolyn J. Gable Foundation, doubling your donation and the assistance we can provide. We cannot thank Carolyn enough for her big heart and compassion for her fellow creations. Thank you and God Bless you.
Health & Happiness, Love & GOD Bless Everyone, Sal
Please Help
There are many coming to us in desperation. Our good fellow creations need our compassion. Together we make a big difference. Make checks payable to: The Time Is now to Help, P.O. Box 1, Lake Geneva, WI 53147. The Time Is now to Help is a federally recognized 501©3 charitable organization. you will receive a tax deductible, itemized thank you receipt showing how 100% of your donation was used for providing poverty relief. Please visit our website for more information, to read more of our past and current columns and/or to make a donation: www.timeisnowtohelp.org.
