To commemorate this one-month mark, I have included this picture of the car after it was taken to the junk yard. AJ was sitting in the back seat of the passenger side. Notice that the impact seems to be over the back passenger tire/back window area and that the front doors on the car were not harmed! That was how AJ's friends in the front were able to open the doors and get out. After the accident, AJ was trapped in the car and was removed by cutting the top off the car with the jaws-of-life. Crazy.
Since AJ has 4 weeks left in this hospital rehabilitation center, we started looking for an out-patient facility this week. We toured a facility in a city near here called Sugar House. The OT and PT spinal cord expertise was impressive, as was their equipment. This is the type of facility we want AJ to go to because of their understanding of how to help patients with spinal cord injuries keep themselves healthy and progressing. There are a few places in Seattle that we will be contacting in hopes of getting treatment that is closer to home.
We got a "wake-up call" as we talked to the therapists about the length, costs and coverage for this treatment that will be ongoing, to some extent, for years. It became clear that AJ's future medical expenses will be heavy. Because of this, we decided to open a fundraising account for him through HelpHOPELive.org (here is the link to AJ's campaign: https://m.helphopelive.org/campaign/5543). They are a nonprofit organization, so all donations are tax deductible. They focus on helping organ transplant patients and spinal cord injury patients. It's humbling to receive so much help, but we are so grateful for the efforts and sacrifices of so many family members and friends!
I just saw a post about your son's accident on Facebook. Wow, what a life-altering challenge for all of you, but one you're obviously facing with grace and faith. We're sending our love and prayers your way and hope that every new day is blessed with good progress. --Heidi (Edvalson) Van Woerkom
ReplyDeleteHow much of the donation given actually goes to AJ et al and how much goes to "non profit overhead"? I'm wondering if giving it to the family/AJ straight on is a better way to go... ya know, PayPal link it with "gift" option for no overhead
ReplyDeleteThe HelpHOPELive foundation receives 4-7% depending on the donation method. Donating through the non-profit foundation gives you a tax deductible charitable donation and is not counted as income for AJ.
DeleteWow, that just doesn't seem right. A loophole for some organization to get rich by proxy. Giving money straight to someone in need, medical or otherwise, should not count as income and should be equally as tax deductible to the giver. This concept smacks of "cap and trade" where companies have to give a "carbon credit" money to a 'worthy' business that does not use all theirs, filtered through a "non profit organization" (aka Al Gore) at 1% making Al a billionaire. How's this non-profit? How's 4-7% non-profit? Maybe I don't understand it, but the whole "non-profit" thing seems like a scam to me. I wonder if you can give money to a church and count that as charity and have the church give 100% of it to the person it's meant for. That would actually give organized religion a real reason to exist and take away some of the taint it's collected over the decades here in the USA and around the world for once
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