I’ve been telling ya’ll the story of Anne and how she is trying to get a custom wheelchair over the past few weeks:
I need help for Anne please
Will you help a real Wonder Woman get her chariot?
HELP NEEDED Valkyrie Needs New Chariot
And I will retell Anne’s story below but I thought today I’d start by sharing how Anne helps me all the damn time. As I related in one of the diaries above, when I met Anne and she learned I was a hobbyist blacksmith she expressed interest in trying blacksmithing. Now, I’m standing, looking at this one legged older lady in a wheelchair and my first thought was: this isn’t gonna work.
But as the conversation proceeded and I could see her interest I started thinking: okay, so we have to make a custom leather apron to protect her from hot scale but what if the piece she is working on falls in her lap? Ok, so thick leather, she’s able to lift and dump the hot steel to the ground. But my anvil is too high… Slowly, I came round to the idea that with a bit of adjustment there was no reason Anne couldn’t blacksmith. So I said, hey, let’s get you over and try this out.
This started in June of 2016 and has evolved into Wednesday evening smithing sessions with Anne.
Anyone who knows my posting history on Daily Kos probably knows I’m mentally ill. I have treatment resistant recurring major depression with atypical features. Yesterday I wanted to hang myself (nothing to do with rock musicians; hanging’s been by obsession since I first tried suicide at thirteen. It’s a surprisingly technical way to die. Do you want to slowly asphyxiate? Or drop and break the spine? Wire? Rope? Don’t want to drop too far, you can pop your head off doing that and so on and so forth) . Posted the fundraiser and went to bed.
Anyway, Anne’s a lifeline. When I see her, in her shitty wheelchair gamely getting the hot steel from the forge to the custom anvil my instructor made for her… well, it’s a little easier to tell those lying, deceitful voices in my head to STFU and they kinda actually do shut up, if only for a little bit. When we do the stupid dance of getting her in the car, getting the wheelchair in my car, driving 100 yards to her garage, getting her supplies, getting them into the car, driving to the market where she sells her handmade jewelry, getting her wheelchair out, getting her into the wheelchair, and then setting up her booth for her — you start to appreciate just how good you and all four limbs and two eyes have it.
In other words, as much I help help Anne learn a new hobby and stay mobile, she does more than that for me, reminding me about gratitude, patience and love. Reminding me Andy is pretty good after all.
Then I take her back home and five minutes after she leaves the car the voices start in again…
Anyway, if you want to help Anne get a custom wheelchair you can contribute RIGHT HERE.
Anne’s story is below and beneath that I will answer some questions that have been directed to me:
Meet Anne Cooper; jewelry artist, aspiring blacksmith and amputee.
She needs a new wheelchair and not some heavy, unwieldy contraption built to confine an invalid. Anne needs a chariot she can use to whip through the Farmer's Markets at which she sells her jewelry. Something maneuverable which will allow her to approach forge and anvil with SAFETY and EASE as she holds hot iron with tongs in one hand and hammer in the other. A chair she can disassemble and put into her Honda Fit by herself so she does not have to wait on others for rides (can you imagine owning your own car and not being to use it?).
Read on to learn about this amazing lady.
Anne was born in 1949 with a partial right hip and a leg that was literally facing the wrong way. As a child she used a leather cuff that held her leg, and it was framed first with steel and later with aluminum prosthetics to reach the floor. She was in constant pain but did not let that slow her down from doing things like making the decision to amputate from just above the right knee in an effort to end the pain before going to college (BA in Psychology from Austin College - go Anne!).
From there forward she used a 14lb wood prosthetic to walk. This was pre-Vietnam and the amazing advances in prosthetics had yet to take place - no shock absorption and very crude in make. In order to walk she had to lift her entire right side and each night she ached when she took it off.
Nonetheless, she persisted - following her hobby of jewelry making from minerals, decorative stones and semi-precious jewels and turning it into a career. Anne also took up adopting kitties in need like Jasper who she rescued by jumping out of a car in traffic to save. She's owned jewelry stores, done silversmithing and pursued her passions.
But now that she's retired, damage to her shoulders from years of anti-ergonomic prosthetics and crutches confine her to a wheelchair. And medicaid does not pay for fancy chairs. She has a 34 lb. chair that was designed by someone who CLEARLY does not use a wheelchair. The armrests stick out over the wheels and strain hands, arms, and shoulders. Each side has pieces that stick out and catch her pants and pull them down.
Salvation for Anne seemed to be at hand when I (Andy) saw a woman in a wheel chair zip out of 7-11 to her car, hop in, pull each wheel off her chair, fold it up and fit it all in her car. I leapt out of my car and chased her down - somewhat to her alarm - and got the name of the company who made the chair: Per4Max in Grand Prairie.
Anne and I took a field trip and they quoted her a chair HALF THE WEIGHT OF HER CURRENT CHAIR with removable wheels, an easy to disassemble back and which folded. It has brakes and can be done in Anne's favorite color - PURPLE (Anne wants to name it the Grape Escape).
Anne says: "I think that custom wheelchair would set me free again. I used to be able to go anywhere and do anything on my own schedule. Now, I have to wait until someone who can lift my chair wants to go somewhere. I could go to the Farmers Markets on my own. Or go to the library whenever I wanted. I could go out and have a simple cup of coffee. I could go donate time volunteering somewhere. I pray to God every day please help me to get a wheelchair that I can take apart and have my dignity restored."
We tried the Medicaid route. For months Anne has chased doctors, psychologists, Durable Medical Equipment Suppliers, insurers. We've all helped file papers and deliver them urgently to suppliers and physicians - to no avail. They'll buy her a new chair just as user unfriendly as her current one, no problem. But not a custom chair that will actually help her.
So, I want to buy Anne a new chariot. This amazing lady is 68 years young and she has a lot of things to do, people to see, kitties to pet and iron to pound.
The chair is $3,900. I want Anne to have $5,000 so she can deal with any unforeseen contingencies which may arise as a result of a new chair.
Questions I have been asked:
What do you mean medicare does not cover ultralight wheelchairs? They certainly do!
Yep. But that don’t mean Durable Medical Equipment (DME) suppliers actually STOCK them. Nor does that mean they will work with a manufacturer. We have been down this road, over and over and over. DME’s don’t get much reimbursement from Medicaid for wheelchairs. Everyone says “yeah, we’ll get you an ultralight” and then they show us a chair that won’t fold up, cannot be disassmbled to put in the car and weighs over 30lbs! Anne can’t do shit with that.
But her doctor can specify in the prescription!!
Absolutely. We have had the Dragon Lady doctor rewrite the prescription four times, with nice cover letters and the attached quote from the wheelchair manufacturer Anne wants to work with. And Wellcare takes the paperwork, submits it to various DME’s and they say “Absolutely, we can do a chair kind of like that.” and then we find out it is 45lbs and is welded together.
Can’t some local agency help her?
Yes. And no. Anne is in a weird spot. She has a chair that meets her ‘minimum needs’. Her building has an elevator. She owns a car. Those facts raise her well above the needs a lot of organizations and agencies try to meet. It’s like she isn’t quite badly off enough to get help. I offered to cut off her hand or poke out an eye but Anne didn’t like those ideas for some reason.
The wheelchair manufacturer can give her the chair for free and use her to promote those chairs!
Um, Anne’s story isn’t nearly as heartbreaking as some of the others they get and they are a disabled owned business who hires disabled people. And they are helping us already. So, no, that route won’t work. They charge a fair rate for a professionally designed custom product to meet specific individual needs — they deserve to earn good money on this product. The company is Per4Max in Grand Prairie, Texas and I cannot speak highly enough of them. Good people, good product.
Tell us about the fabulous rewards for contributing to this effort!
Thanks for reminding me! As I said, we’ve got blacksmithy and handmade jewelry to offer! Here are examples of the kinds of things we are offering.
Yeah, I’m a diseased freak. But my friend, Anne, is not. So you should help her.