MS Disabled 59 Year Old Woman Seeks Grant Money For Wheelchair Van
by Peggy Balk
I would love to be able to travel to see their games and to also visit in their hometown of Romeo, Michigan. I have Multiple Sclerosis. I was diagnosed in August of 2001 by Doctor Peter Hedera, University of Michigan Hospital, Department of Radiology located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This conclusion was drawn after several tests and comparisons of brain and spine MRIs that were performed over a two-year period. I then went to Doctor Tselis at Detroit Harper Hospital for a second opinion. He agreed with the Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis but felt I had Primary Progressive MS rather than Secondary Progressive MS. His diagnosis made more sense of the symptoms I have had throughout my life which include: stumbling, falling, fatigue, extreme heat sensitivity, irritability, mild incontinence (somewhat controlled by medications) and more recently, what is known as mental fog. Mental fog is the term used to describe what happens when there is an overload of activity or information put into the brain. It can be caused by fatigue and a rest break often helps. It can cause mistakes in things like checkbooks or recipes etc. The February/March 2006 issue of InsideMS explains it beautifully. Each person must learn what triggers mental fog for them and navigate carefully around those situations. I continued to work at Busch's Valu-land grocery store after receiving my diagnosis but eventually had to go from full to part-time, being unable to do some of the job that required lifting heavy items and taking the stairs. For a woman that is used to working and sometimes working two jobs, this has caused some depression and a lot of stress. After five years of working around my disability, which included making me part time instead of full time, using my Grandfather's motorized Rascal scooter to check in vendors in the rear of the store because I could no longer walk and having extra help for the heavy things, Busch's Valu-land terminated me. I had been with them for ten years. I then applied for Social Security Disability. I received disability status, after 18 months, two or three appeals and a court appearance on September 26, 2007 where the Judge made a bench decision in my favor. During the period of ten years leading up to my termination, I went from full time work to part time work, losing one half of my income. When I was terminated, I began receiving some funds from a disability insurance policy I had with the company I left but nothing else until almost two years later when I was approved for social security disability. I also needed a wheelchair that would work in the house because the Rascal scooter was too big. My husband's insurance paid for most of it but we still had to come up with some cash. I can no longer drive, haven't driven in two years because I can't use the foot pedals. I need a van with hand controls and an automatic lift. This would help me function totally on my own, including getting groceries when Rolland is not home. Rolland, my husband, does not make the kind of money that would allow a purchase of such a van. He and his brother have made a functioning lift to put my chair into and out of the 11-year-old van we have but I need help to load me up and someone to drive. I have already gone through my 401K funds helping make the house payment through the years of my shrinking income. A second wheelchair has cost us more money. The first one was falling apart and had to be replaced. I have applied for a fill-in ministry assistant position at our church but this is very, very part time. I worked two days last year. My husband has to take me and pick me up. The bus system here is not very helpful as we live on a dead end street and they say they do not have a place to turn around to come get me. I have a limited time frame of energy to work with. Before leaving the store the doctor had said no more than 20 hours a week and after four hours on the job sometimes the "mental fog" begins to set in and I start to make mistakes. The office hours at church are about all I can handle. I did try to become a Melaluca (on line) salesperson but I found I did not have the energy or stamina to remain on the telephone or at the keyboard for the length of time that was required. By the Grace of God I feel my needs are small compared to many others but I do find myself in need of a vehicle that will hold up as long as I do. I mentioned I am extremely heat sensitive. The air conditioner in our van is out of commission and the doors are rusting off to the point that the open door light stays on all the time. My husband is close to retirement with no pension to make a van payment, a very small 401K plan (because of a withdrawal to remodel the kitchen for my motorized wheelchair use) and I have already used my 401K for house payments. We will have only our social security funds. If this van stops rolling, I will be stranded at home. I am trusting God to provide a van through someone who reads my letter. Thank you and God bless.
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