Waianae 7 year old in need of chair lift for home

From: angel Banta [mailto:angelbantaxox@gmail.com]

Senator Shimabukuro,

I am a Senior at Waianae High School and have a brother who is 7 years old that attends Waianae Elementary School. His name is Tayden Mossman and was born with SMA. I know that parents only wish, hope and pray for nothing but for their child(ren) to be as healthy as they can be, but for my parents all they hope for my brother is to be happy considering he was born with SMA and he’ll have to live with it for the rest of his life.

As I have said, my brother was born with SMA and that is Spinal Muscular Atrophy. SMA is basically preventing my brother from having strength and using his muscles and also walking which is a big thing you need in life. He also has a hard time breathing sometimes and things can get bad at times. As the years have gone by, his strength has weakened and he has a weak immune system so he tends to get sick more often. But even though he has this disease, you wouldn’t be able to tell all of this cause he is very talkative and talks with anyone he meets. He is always a happy bubbly person and rarely gets upset. The only time he gets upset is when he can’t go downstairs to play or do other things normal kids can.

The house that we live in is elevated 16 feet off the ground meaning there are stairs we have to walk up to in order to get in the house. Since he is a growing boy, he is getting bigger as the months go by and because he can’t walk, my dad, mom and I take turns carrying him up and down these steps. Although I love him dearly, it is really hard to carry him up and down the steps and causes some body pain. So because it is hard for us, my parents are trying to save up the money to get my brother a lift that will take him up and down the stairs whenever he would like to go outside seeing as he loves to play with our dogs, loves to plant, play with our little sister and play baseball. Recently I had written to Make A Wish Hawaii so my brother would finally be able to do something he wants to do and have fun without anything stopping him (his inability to walk for example). Anyways, they had approved the trip for him and I know he will have fun up there but it’s upsetting cause we will have to come home, where he won’t be able to go downstairs or play as he pleases cause like I have said, it is hard for us to carry him.

The total of this lift is around $51,000 as shown in the picture attached and I know how hard it is to raise even half of that but every amount we raise is a big help for my family. If anyone is able to give to our fundraiser or even build this lift for us if they possibly could for free or a cheaper price, it is all greatly appreciated. If anyone is willing to do it for a cheaper price or for free, my parents would allow it. One thing I have done is I have started an account at GiveForward.com to help raise money. If you could possibly help share this or help out in any way you can, that would be great. The link for the fundraising account is www.gfwd.at/1cwENrw

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my letter!

Sincerely,

Angel-Lynn Banta