Opportunity |
Possible Solution |
| Unable to climb stairs, Marcy hasn't seen her children's rooms or the entertainment room in the basement for over 5 years. |
An elevator large enough to accommodate her wheelchair that reaches the three floors. |
| With no head support of her own, it is difficult, stressful, energy-draining, and dangerous to transfer Marcy from her bed to her wheelchair. |
An overhead lift system that doesn't make her room look like it is home to a "sick" person. |
| First installed to help Marcy walk up stairs, the ramp Rob made to allow Marcy to enter and exit the house is too steep and dangerous to use safely with her power wheelchair. |
An elevator or platform lift. |
| To stay comfortable and to keep bed sores from forming, Marcy has to lay on 7 pillows in her hospital bed at home. For the first seven years of their marriage, Marcy's parents called Rob & Marcy "the honeymooners." Since moving to a hospital bed in 2002, Marcy and Rob haven't slept in the same bed except one night in a hospital in an oversized air bed. |
A hospital grade air bed large enough for two. |
| Marcy loves to get out of the house and feels strong enough to do so once a week or so. They have a wheelchair accessible van, but it has 100,000 miles on it and won't last forever. |
A new wheelchair accessible van. |
| Since 2003 Marcy has only had sponge baths. With no head support of her own, halls to the bathroom too narrow for her wheelchair, and a bathtub with walls, it is difficult and dangerous to even partially immerse her. We once tried an inflatable tub that goes in her bed, but it is very claustrophobic. |
An in-ground swimming pool/hot tub combination model with a lift/head support unit. |
| It's hard enough raising teenagers - even without health challenges. With a Mom in the living room in a hospital bed, it is more difficult to keep kids (and their friends) at our house for supervised recreation and entertainment. |
An in-ground swimming pool for Summer parties.
Convert finished basement to karaoke/American Idol soda parlor. |
| Though we are blessed to have many meals brought to us by friends and neighbors, Rob has to cook sometimes. And Marcy watches a lot of TV, including all the home improvement shows. She has seen many improvements she would like to see in her own kitchen. |
A kitchen makeover including more "man-friendly" items (like an indoor grill) and granite counter tops. |
| Marcy's primary care physician has a theory that ALS (and other neuropathies) is caused and exacerbated by toxins thrown off by fungi. Though he thinks that in Marcy's case it is a fungal infection living inside her, it could be caused by environmental fungal growth. Though we have had a mold expert inspect and tell us our house is clean, we know there are some leaks in the roof and at least one of the windows in our sun room. |
Re-roof the house, replace sun room picture window, replace carpet in sun room with porcelain tile. |
| Though Marcy actually won foot races and could literally run circles around Rob, Rob likes to run and keep in shape. Needing to stay within ear shot of Marcy, he can no longer run outside and would like to keep his health. |
Finish a section of the unfinished part of the basement into an exercise room that allows for monitoring Marcy while Rob exercises. This will also serve as a good room for Marcy's rehab if her physical healing is a slow one. |
| We are blessed to have a beautiful piano in the first room you see upon entering the house. Marcy loves piano music but Marcy is the only one in our family who plays. |
Convert standard piano to player piano. |
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