53 Year Old CMT Disabled Veteran Seeks Grant For Move To Florida

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53 Year Old CMT Disabled Veteran Seeks Grant For Move To Florida

by Jim Langsford
(Indianapolis, IN, USA)

My name is James Langsford and I am 53 years old. I have an illness called Charcot Marie Tooth disease, which is a form of MDA.

This illness kills your nerves and muscles in the body. I can no longer walk on my own so now I have to use a cane to help me walk.

I fall a lot but the doctors can't do much about it. My illness is hereditary and there is no cure.

The only thing the doctors can do is give me medicine for the pain which helps but not all the time.

I also take care of my mother who is 80 years old and she suffers from dementia. I also take care of my brother who is in a wheelchair now and he has the same illness as me.

We live in Indianapolis, Indiana. I used to be in the Army, National Guard, and Navy. I have three honorable discharges.

Then I went to work my whole life until two years ago when my illness caught up with me. Then I only had 30 percent of my motor skills left.

I am now on social security and I was blessed because it only took me three months to get approved but I can no longer afford the home I live in.

Since I don't know how much longer I have to live I want to move my family to Florida so we can all be happy.

But we have a problem… we don't have the money and I was wanting a grant so I can move my family down there so I can help take care of them.

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53 Year Old CMT Disabled Veteran Seeks Grant For Move To Florida

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May 15, 2011
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CMT
by: Tiffany

Sir, my father was diagnosed with CMT in 2006. Within the last year, the VA tested and fitted my father with battery operated braces. Petition your prosthetics department for some of these braces. It is amazing how much they have helped my father, The name of the company is Ottobock.

Nov 13, 2010
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It's hard.
by: melvin B

I know how hard it is to be disabled, trying to help the loved ones from miles away and have loved ones back where you live. I live in Wisconsin and my mother lives in Texas. A few weeks ago I got a phone call from mom saying she needs to have her right knee rebuilt. My father just passed away three months ago. They were married 55 years. I have been with my wife for 23 years and to boot this is my 3rd time. Anyway I'm 100 percent from the Navy and the winters are killing me. I don't leave my house in the winter in fear of falling and breaking my ankle for the 5th time. But getting to the story of Mom, I get down here and it's winter, but what a difference a few thousand miles makes. Have only hurt a little, and have only taken a few pain pills. NOW it comes to the problem? move six months during the winter and go back home in the summer. By the way I am from the state of Texas. How do I sit with my wife and talk about this, and by the way she works for the VA and is a nurse. I don't know how much I helped, but you helped me? Thank You!

May 20, 2010
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Clouds over Florida
by: Danny

Jim,

I feel for you bro. I also am 100%. In the last 8 years my biggest mistake was to move to Florida. Yes it's sunny, warm, and loaded with nothing but great veterans and excellent health care, but?

I was under the assumption that the cost of living was cheap and everything would come up roses. Well for me it didn't work that way.

You're constantly being hit up for money by every organization there is down here. The cost of living is no cheaper than anywhere else (and I'm from taxachusetts.) I would gladly trade my home for any home in southeastern Massachusetts, in a heartbeat.

The VA James Haley is great, but like all, it's becoming way overcrowded. On two occasions I went there because my head was coming apart at the seams. (It was raging PTSD to the extent of starting fights with the local cops outside hospital.)

I knew the pain they were gonna inflict was more than I could handle and hopefully render me out cold to make the pain go away. Well yeah the beatings I took, how I don't know. I'm only 5'8"160lbs and weak as can be from 15 years of morphine,.

I have enough energy to almost be able to drive. To turn the corner takes all I got. It's not where I want to be at 59 years old.

But Florida was my worst move. My so-called friends went away after a couple of years, there was nothing I had to offer but friendship or my meds when they were low, which seemed on a weekly basis.

My only stop is my wife. She has a very good job, very high paying, but my children are miserable. All I see is hurt and their missing friends when I look in their eyes,

Talk about triggering your PTSD. This is the same pain of my buddy lying in the bush beside you waiting for the last Syrette to work, and the odds have never been on his side.

I don't mean to ramble? Stay where your family's from. There's help out there, for me up north with my old veterans group, which was somehow attached to the Brockton VA, is where I should have stayed.

I made a mistake by listening to others and not myself. I should have known when my best friend from that area offed himself last year. He always said how much he hated it here and I would just laugh. It's the way he was. He would make the worst funny and you had no idea if he was serious.

I carry the guilt and shame of this daily, yet down here the shrink wont ride on this story. He just writes it off.

I don't need any more disability. What do they think I want? If I was up north there's a doc, Mona Samman who could put the pieces together; she did for years. And like a fool I thought a move would fix things. WRONG!

Good luck bro. No one deserves this state of mind. Hopefully you'll find the right set of ears. I have no idea where this is going or if it makes sense. Hopefully it helps and makes a crappy situation better and not worse.

Danny

May 14, 2010
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Assistance for Veterans
by: Katina from Accessible.org

Congratulations on making the effort to submit your story to Accessible.org.

With the publication of your story, you are now well on your way to:

1. Getting your story known to a wide audience that could help you.

2. Getting your story polished up and presentable so you can submit it elsewhere, including the White House.

As a disabled person myself, I can sympathize with your situation and I definitely understand your need for help.

I've done a bit of research and found these resources for you:

Grant Assistance for Veterans
http://www.accessible.org/government-grants-for-veterans.html

US VETS
http://www.usvetsinc.org/default.asp

State Veterans Affairs Offices
http://www.va.gov/statedva.htm

Others reading your story may be able to contribute more.

In any case, please let us know if they've been helpful to you.

Katina from Accessible.org

Good luck!

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53 Year Old CMT Disabled Veteran Seeks Grant For Move To Florida

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53 Year Old CMT Disabled Veteran Seeks Grant For Move To Florida