My New Powerchair by Jane Bradley

I had a power chair provided by wheelchair services but it just was not suitable and because Ralph had had surgery and recovering from cancer we really needed a chair with a riser function, Wolverhampton services will never fund a riser power chair so I had to look elsewhere and this is where NMC was invaluable.

Denise arranged for me to try wheelchairs and for Eric and Dave Headford to come to the NMC with a selection of power chairs and they were able to find one with everything I needed and even add features I didn’t know were available to suit my needs exactly. Once that was decided I then needed to find what if any charitable grants were available. Once again Denise came to my aid. She printed out a list of charities online I could approach she actually gave me a list with 30 on!!!

I worked my way through them and found some were just for children and teenagers and some were just for people living in certain areas of the Country but I was able to find 5 I could approach as a starting point.

I also went on a site called “Turn To Us” online and under the section “Grantsearch” was able to find a few more. I contacted the charities and asked for application forms you can either do them online or ask for forms to be posted.

When I first got the forms I found them a little daunting so I took my time and filled them in a bit at a time!! They do ask for income and savings but really that is fair as then the funds can go to those who really need it. Also Denise was with me every step of the way and always at the end of the phone when I got stuck I really could not have done it without her and I know she would do the same for any of the NMC patients.

So the wonderful results were that I got all the funding for my £8.746.00 Quickie Salsa M2 Mini !!!
The funding came as follows IHA Independence at Home £500 Act Foundation £2,000 Florence Nightingale £2,264.00 Tishie Yong Foundation £1,500 Joseph Patrick Trust £2,500

All of these charities are easy to find online. I made contact with a Brenda Yong at the Tishie Yong Foundation and she is a lovely helpful lady. Also Ann Griffiths at the Florence Nightingale Trust was very helpful.

I was quite overwhelmed by the generosity of these charities as I really didn’t expect to get all the funding and I am forever grateful. I also made a point of writing and thanking them all for their help which they then thanked me for thanking them so that was nice!

And again my thanks go to Denise for all her support and everyone at NMC who do so much for all their patients what would we do without you all!