Let's Get Bridget Moving!

Our fundraising campaign is all about Bridget. In 2015 when she was 10 months old, Bridget woke up one morning and couldn't move. After a lot of tests and a transfer to a children's hospital four hours from home, she was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis and Acute Flaccid Paralysis, meaning she had spontaneous swelling in her spinal cord that caused nerve damage to an unknown extent. At its onset, Bridget lost all movement from the neck down. She needed a tracheostomy and a full-time vent to breathe. She never lost her smile, but we had no idea what the future would hold.

Since then she has had 13 hospitalizations, six surgeries, and more therapy sessions than we can count. She breathes on her own but still needs a BiPAP machine at night. Her neuromuscular condition has caused Restrictive Lung Disease; she requires regular breathing treatments and a simple cold can put her in the hospital. She had four ICU stays in the last year. She uses a power wheelchair and needs a variety of adaptive equipment. It's this special equipment that are asking for help with.

Bridget receives a lot of support but was recently denied for services at the one county agency that could help with the cost of an adapted wheelchair van and a robotic gait trainer. As she has grown, her wheelchair needs to grow too and it no longer fits in our truck. An adapted van with a ramp has become a must-have to transport Bridget's chair. We found a used Toyota Sienna that we couldn't pass up, and are asking for help to cover the high cost of this adapted vehicle - $60,000. After that, it is our dream for Bridget to get a Trexo Robotics Gait Trainer - this is Bridget's best chance of regaining the ability to bear weight and walk, and they cost $40,000. She tested one this Spring at the Abilities Expo and the results were amazing!

We have amazing friends - Elisabeth, Eric and Dee - who are taking on the fun challenge of walking across Rhode Island in a day in September, and they are doing it in honor of Bridget. They'll keep us updated on their training and their progress as they cross this event off their bucket list and raise money to get Bridget moving!

Please donate what you can, either to see our crazy friends walk across an entire state in one day or to see Bridget's smile as she walks in a new gait trainer and please spread the word. Bridget is an amazing little girl and she's got places to go!

Thank you,

Jeff & Shana Thomas