Quadriplegic Seeking Funds For Lightweight Wheelchair And Used Automobile

by Timothy Blanchard
(Riverside, California, USA)

In 1989 I was 27 years old and decided to settle down and get married for the 1st time. My then wife and I got married February 12th 1989. It just so happens that on or about October 9, we had an argument over something.

My then wife went to her sisters to get away from me for a while, while I was at home watching TV. Out of the blue I heard a noise outside and got up and peeked through the blinds, and I'll be darned if it wasn't my then wife's sister's Pat.

She was my favorite sister-in-law as my then wife has four sisters. Anyway I couldn't believe that Pat would drive all the way from a town called Nuevo to Rancho California just to see me.

So I decided to open the front door and greet her with open arms. Little did I know what was about to happen.

My wife's brother stood about 15 yards away from me an instantaneously shot me three times with a semi-automatic 45-caliber handgun.

One bullet went through my right bicep, the 2nd bullet just missed my heart by just over an inch and went through my right lung and exited my back impounding itself in the refrigerator.

The 3rd bullet, (after being spun around from the 2nd bullet), went through my c-7, t-1 vertebrae, hitting my spinal cord, ricocheting and going through my carotid artery and exiting through my mouth.

Since then I've had laser surgery on my eyes, carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist. My carotid artery was somehow sewn back together as I should have bled out at the scene.

My jaw was wired shut for six weeks. A titanium implant and screws are in my jaw to keep it in place.

I've had two collapsed lungs, three chest tubes four morphine pump surgeries and I just found out today that I'm scheduled for # 5 here sometime next month.

I've had two back surgeries, two heel-cord surgeries, a ruptured appendix that developed into full blown peritonitis, two toxic blood infections, two cases of rhabdomyolysis, three seizures and three heart stoppages.

So needless to say I've been to h--l and back. What would help me ever so greatly is about $8,000.

Four thousand would be for a new ultra-light weight wheelchair that costs about $400.

The other $4000 would allow me to buy a reasonable automobile, with hand controls, to come and go as I please.

I'm always in severe nerve pain and was supposed to have a lifespan of about 10 years. Well it's been 20 now and with your help there is absolutely no telling how much longer I will live.

The automobile will allow me to go to and from work/school. It would just open up new doors/avenues that I haven't yet realized existed.

I was kind of thinking my life was over. I don't know if this letter will help but it was worth the try.

Thank you for your understanding, and God bless. Timothy Blanchard, Riverside, California.