Katharina Buczek
New Hope, Pennsylvania. Joanne Schmidt has created a GoFundMe on behalf of her colleague and friend, Tara Nolan, to raise money for a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.
Nolan has a seven-year-old daughter, Micah, who has Cerebral Palsy and various other health challenges, including Epilepsy. Micah is also nonverbal and unable to walk.
“During a recent Zoom session with Tara, she was apologizing for being a few minutes late to our meeting,” wrote Schmidt, “She went on to explain that she had picked her daughter up early from school and that the school was just dropping off her daughter’s wheelchair.”
At first, Schmidt was confused as to why Nolan did not just transport Micah’s wheelchair home when she picked her up.
“I soon learned that Tara doesn’t have a vehicle to transport Micah in that is wheelchair accessible. So when Tara has to pick up Micah from school early for medical or other appointments, she literally carries her to the car and leaves the wheelchair at school,” Schmidt said.
GoFundMe; pictured above is Micah
Each day, Micah’s wheelchair gets delivered home by the driver of the wheelchair-accessible bus. And, while carrying a seven-year-old may not sound very difficult to some, it is very draining for Nolan.
“Micah weighs just forty-four pounds, but because she cannot distribute her weight, it’s more like carrying a one hundred pound child,” wrote Schmidt.
Schmidt was also surprised that medical insurance does not offer aid to parents for wheelchair-accessible vehicles or for the replacement of adaptive strollers as children grow.
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