Fundraising for vital wheelchair

Sheila Clarke (pictured) is a proud Sunshine Coast writer and art teacher who is going through some health challenges but has summoned the courage to reach out for help.

She knows she is not the only one in the same boat: too old to benefit from the National Disability Insurance Scheme but unable to meet her needs through the My Age Care package alone.

A fundraising lunch at Kawana  Waters Hotel on Wednesday, August 7,  at 11.30am may be her best chance of putting together the money she desperately seeks for a power wheelchair to improve her independence.

She tells Your Time her story …

I was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1984, aged 38. I have been hospitalised many times over the years as my condition deteriorated.

In the past decade, my health has deteriorated, resulting in peripheral neuropathy, pulmonary embolism, cervical spondylosis, osteoporosis and bilateral chronic venous insufficiency.

My current situation is that I cannot walk. When transferring, I often have falls, with the most recent resulting in a spinal fracture and several crush fractures.

The electric power chair I use has  been assessed by an occupational therapist and the result is that I need a prescripted power wheelchair with an estimated cost of $34,000.

I do not qualify for NDIS due to my age of 77 years. I am on Level 4 of the My Age Care package, which has insufficient funds to meet my basic needs.

Here is a look at what my package supplies versus what I need.

Personal care is one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. I need an extra hour daily, but there are not enough funds.

Shopping: no funds for this.

Continence: no funds for this (did you know that the Medical Aids Subsidy Scheme only supply to levels 1 and 2, not 3 and 4, who probably need it the most?).

Scripted wheelchair: no funds.

As you can see, these are essential requirements, not luxuries.

I am very grateful for the package the government supplies and use it wisely. I am sure many other people are in the same predicament.

I constantly suffer high levels of pain, which led me to make a conscious choice to be friends with my pain and not fight it.

I choose to be positive and happy, live my life to the fullest, and be grateful for small mercies.

I am trying to fundraise the $34,000. So far, $13,500 has been raised.

If you can help with donations or fundraising, email Sheila at pjgsc49w@gmail.com.

I am struggling to continue organising fundraising events, and my health limits my ability to do so.

I am a lucky one. Although I have a mild cognitive impairment, I can still advocate for myself. I feel for anyone who does not have the ability to do so.

It is a long road, but it can be achieved, one step at a time.

The fundraising lunch at Kawana Waters Hotel on August 7 will include a pre-lunch drink, two courses (multi-choice main meal, with vegetarian and gluten-free options, and dessert), plus tea or coffee. The Kawana Waters Hotel has sponsored the lucky door prize of a $200 venue voucher. Raffle prizes also are offered. Tickets are $30, to be paid before the event.

 Contact Sheila on 0451 397 719 or email pjgsc49w@gmail.com for inquiries or further donations.