Reeve Foundation Paralysis Community

Last year we sent out a newsletter with some gift ideas that were especially thoughtful if you happen to be living with paralysis or a caregiver. They ranged from infra-red, voice activated remotes to really good gloves and extra warm shirts to a backpack designed for a wheelchair.

I know as I write this it's Halloween, but it's time to start thinking about it.

Help us build a list, please! What do you have your eye on? What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

We gave the remote and the backpack away last year. I'll see what we can do this year.

Rob

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Rob Gerth
Manager Online Communications
Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
(800) 225-0292 ext. 7123
"Nothing good is a miracle, nothing lovely is a dream."

Best gift we ever gave my husband...according to him.

He is a C3 quad and has really no function below his neck making finding an appropriate and useful gift rather hard.  One year one of our sons had made this really cool painting in his art class at school.  I took it to a framing place an had it professionally matted and framed.  We gave it to my husband for Christmas that year.  He has it hanging in his bedroom.  It looks like a Van Gogh to us.

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Trish

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's learning to dance in the rain."

Those are the best kind of gifts :-)

Priceless!

Dear Rob,

My injury is at C7 T1. I'm responding to your question, "What's the best gift you've ever gotten?" Well, it's expensive and in these times, I'm sure many will have problems pulling it off, but I so want to tell the community about it because it changed my life. (I'm embarrassed to say we don't have the money so we charged it, but from the results, I've stopped feeling guilty about the expense.)

It's a semi-recumbent large metal tricycle. With my injury, I can't push down on the pedals of a regular bike, plus I have no balance. My husband spent $900 on it. The same trikes go for $3000 on tons of other web sites, but I'm thrilled with this one. It's worksman.com - click on 'Specialty' and then click on the left on 'Specialty Tricycles.' Mine's the second one down. There's no need to pay for extras like armrests. They cost a fortune. And I wouldn't ever use them because my hands are always on the handlebars.

I'm surprisingly able to use muscles in my legs I never thought I could use again. I can't get up from a sitting position, but somehow I can pedal for over an hour.

This part might be crazy - and I haven't done it, but it's an idea worth pursuing. I've seen doctors who write prescriptions for asthma patients - for air conditioners. My neurologist wrote a prescription for my combo desk chair/commode. And BC/BS covered it. So perhaps docs would be willing to write a script for this trike. It is made for disabled people.

Otherwise, if anyone has any dough left in their savings accounts, I hope that this info will be helpful.

Best of luck to you in your gift-list quest.

Saralee

Yes, the perscription may get the tricycle covered. If BC/BS doesn't cover it, then you can use it as an itemized medical deduction on your taxes.

Hi

I had not thought of declaring the trike as an itemized deduction on my taxes. Thank you!
Saralee