Our Story: A Family That Never Gives Up

Every family has a story.

Some stories are calm and predictable. Others teach you that life cannot always be planned, and that sometimes the greatest achievement is simply getting through another day.

Our story is one of those.

My name is Roman, and together with my wife Lucie, who is 52, we are raising four children.

Two sons and two daughters.

Our family is different from many others. Not because we chose this path, but because life gave our children challenges that we never expected.

Our oldest son, Dan, is 28 years old. He has severe intellectual disability and autism.

Our daughter Nikol is 23 and has moderate intellectual disability.

Our younger son Roman is 16. He has severe intellectual disability and autism, as well as epilepsy.

Our youngest daughter, Sofie, is 14.

Four children.

Four completely different personalities.

And each of them needs something different from us.

We gradually realized that our life would be different

When you are expecting a child, you imagine their future.

Their first steps.

Their first words.

School.

Friends.

Growing up.

And one day, an independent life of their own.

For us, some of those dreams gradually changed.

Instead, there were diagnoses, medical examinations, specialists and questions that we often did not know how to answer ourselves.

You gradually learn to live with a reality that is very different from the one you originally imagined.

And above all, you learn one important thing:

You cannot change everything that life brings.

But you can choose how you face it.

So we learned to adapt.

Our family.

Our home.

Our time.

Our plans.

Our everyday life.

In many ways, our entire lives.

Our children need much more care

For an ordinary family, a trip to the doctor might happen once in a while.

For us, medical care and caring for our children are part of everyday life.

Medical appointments.

Examinations.

Doctors.

Hospitals.

Rehabilitation.

Therapy.

Administrative matters.

And, above all, transportation.

Getting one person with severe disabilities where they need to go can already be difficult.

Getting two people there is even more challenging.

And when several children in the family have special needs, you cannot simply say:

“Today it isn't possible.”

You have to go.

You have to arrange it.

You have to manage.

Because on the other side, there is a child who needs you.

We are not a family looking for handouts

For many years, we have tried to manage everything ourselves.

As best as we could.

We never expected someone else to take care of us.

We were never looking for anything luxurious.

We simply wanted to provide our children with what they need.

Safety.

Care.

Medical treatment.

Rehabilitation.

And the ability to get where they need to go.

But some things gradually add up.

And eventually, you reach a point where you realize that you can no longer manage everything on your own.

And then our car became a problem

For most people, a car is simply a way to get to work, go shopping or take a weekend trip.

For our family, a car is much more than that.

It is part of caring for our children.

We need it to take them to doctors, hospitals, medical examinations, rehabilitation and other essential appointments.

We cannot afford to depend on whether our car will start tomorrow.

We cannot simply say that if it breaks down, we will stay home for a few days.

Our children have appointments and care that cannot always be postponed.

And that is why we have reached the point where we need a newer, reliable car.

Our current car is no longer enough

Our current car has been with us through a large part of our lives.

It has helped us manage countless journeys that would otherwise have been extremely difficult.

But time does not stop.

The car is getting older.

Repairs are becoming more frequent.

The risk of a breakdown is increasing.

And the older the car gets, the more uncertainty there is about whether it will safely take us where we need to go.

For some people, a broken-down car is simply an inconvenience.

For us, it can mean missing a medical appointment or an important examination.

That is why we are now looking for a solution.

We are not asking for luxury

We are not looking for an expensive or prestigious vehicle.

We do not want a luxury car.

We are not trying to impress anyone.

We simply need a safe and reliable vehicle that can handle our family's everyday needs.

A car with enough space for our family.

A car that can handle our journeys.

A car we can depend on.

A car that can take us to a medical appointment in the morning and bring us safely home in the evening.

For us, this is not about comfort.

It is about keeping our family functioning.

That is why we decided to ask for help

Admitting that we need help was not easy.

For years, we have tried to handle things ourselves.

But sometimes you reach a point where you have to say:

“This time, we cannot do it alone.”

That is why we have decided to reach out and ask for support.

We are not asking for pity.

We simply want people to understand our situation.

Because behind every donation there is not some abstract family on the internet.

There is us.

Lucie and Roman.

Dan.

Nikol.

Roman.

Sofie.

Two parents and four children who are doing their best every day to live the life we were given.

Why a reliable car would mean so much to us

A new car will not solve all of our problems.

It will not change our children's disabilities.

It will not stop the medical appointments.

It will not make our entire life suddenly easy.

But it would remove one major problem.

It would give us the security of knowing that we have reliable transportation for our children when they need it.

To doctors.

To hospitals.

To rehabilitation.

To medical examinations.

And back home again.

It would give us something that most people take for granted:

the certainty that we can rely on our journey.

Our family will not give up

Our life is not perfect.

We get tired.

Sometimes we are afraid.

Sometimes it feels like there is simply too much to deal with.

But then we look at our children.

And we keep going.

Because despite all the difficulties, we still have a reason to get up every morning.

We have each other.

We have our small moments of happiness.

We have our children.

And we still have many days ahead of us to share.

We do not know what tomorrow will bring.

Maybe more doctors.

More examinations.

More challenges.

But certainly also more ordinary mornings, family dinners, laughter and those moments when, at least for a while, everything is okay.

And that is why we want to keep going.

We are not asking for more than the opportunity to continue taking care of our family.

If you help us get a reliable car, you will not simply be helping us buy a vehicle.

You will be helping us take our children to doctors, rehabilitation and the care they need.

You will be helping our family remain mobile.

You will be helping us continue doing what we do every single day.

Taking care of our children.

Staying together.

And never giving up.