First of all, thank you to those who have been faithfully checking up on us and supporting us with all the day to day things that come up. Your help and prayers are an encouragement and so appreciated!

Raymond’s Medicare finally came through and we now have the electric hoyer lift and his personalized power wheelchair. We were also pleasantly surprised with a much lower co-pay than what we were anticipating! That is a huge blessing as we are also dealing with unplanned home repair and appliance replacement. About 3 weeks ago I woke up to a flooded kitchen, family room (Raymond’s room) and partially flooded basement. All the work is covered under our home owners insurance including an alternate living situation while the work is being done. We do need a new refrigerator though since it was a busted water line that caused the flooding. All this is coming at a time when my work schedule is more demanding and will also require me to be away from home several days a week October-December. We appreciate your prayers as we manage these new challenges.

We’re continually looking for ways to make Raymond more comfortable and easier to care for. One of those things has been an alternating air mattress overlay for his hospital bed. Although this makes him less achy, it makes him very HOT. So we are researching products that can help with that. Another thing may be a switch from an electric hoyer lift (covered by insurance) to a ceiling transfer system (not covered by insurance). It seems it is always a game of preparing for the next thing when you have no idea what the next thing might be! We still have wonderful support from the various ALS organizations to help guide us in the right direction with some of these purchases.

We will also be purchasing a generator soon. We lost power in June and then again last week. We rely much more heavily on electricity now with all the equipment we have and a generator will make things so much easier when we lose power. 

Raymond still very much appreciates hearing from friends and family. He was able to get Up North with his brother and friends a few weeks ago and had a great time.

Much Love and Gratitude,

Karen and Raymond

Family and Friends-

Last month, Raymond moved into our family room so we really needed a ramp off the back of the house. A wonderful ministry organization called Faith Works provided us with a temporary ramp. Last week, they removed the temporary ramp and provided and installed a new, more permanent ADA compliant ramp. My cousin and her husband were instrumental in connecting us with this organization, and even helped with the installation so we could get it sooner as they have a long list of people they are helping with ramps. Take a minute to check out the wonderful work they are doing: Faith Works

We also decided against a bathroom remodel, but have the resources to make things more accessible. We’ve recently received much needed loan equipment and assistance from the ALS Association, ALS of Michigan and Compassionate Care ALS to help with all of this. If you want to know more about ALS check out these websites: ALS Association, ALS of Michigan, Compassionate Care ALS.

We are still waiting for Raymond’s Medicare approval to go through. He was supposed to receive it as soon as his diagnosis changed to ALS but there was “incorrect coding”. We have an advocate who is working on getting this taken care of as soon as possible. Once Medicare comes through we can move forward with an electric hoyer lift and complete the process for his personalized power wheelchair. We may also be able to look into home PT and other homecare resources.

We continue to be so grateful for the continued support of friends and family- the many projects, meals, visits, letters, texts, phone calls, financial support and prayers!

With Gratitude and Love,

Raymond and Karen

Dear Family and Friends,

Because of your prayers and generosity, we were able to purchase a good used wheelchair accessible van last week- thank you!  We will hopefully be adding a wheelchair ramp to the house very soon to help Raymond get out more often and easily.

We will also be getting quotes to remodel our bathroom as it cannot be easily modified to accommodate Raymond in his wheelchair. Please pray we can find the right contractor who is reasonably priced and can do the work quickly so Raymond can start using it. 

We are so thankful for the support of so many family and friends. Raymond really does appreciate hearing from all of you (keep up those texts, calls and even sending snail mail). 

With much love,

Karen and Raymond