
New Jersey family seeks funds for special van for disabled twins
Gabriel and Noah Maltese were dealt a tough hand in life; the 6-year-old twins from Toms River were born with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. That has made things tough on their family, too.
The boys use a wheelchair, so the family needs a modified van for transport. According to a GoFundMe page set up by the family, the routine now is:
Every day we carry our children to my vehicle where I drive them to school, take out the wheelchairs that they have in the back of my van put them together and wheel them into school. When the bus drops them off at the end of the day my husband carries them back into the house disassembles the wheelchairs and puts them back into my car for the routine to happen again the following day.
As the boys get older and heavier, getting them in and out of the van is becoming increasingly difficult. A modified van would also give the family a private space to change the boys when they are out in public.
The mother, Marisa, looked into buying a modified vehicle, but the price for one starts at $78,000, which she says the family can’t afford. She looked into having the family vehicle modified with help from the state, but her car has too many miles on it to qualify.
The family has started a GoFundMe drive to raise the money for the van, or for at least the down payment.
She writes that asking for help isn’t easy:
I am an extremely prideful person for anyone that knows me. I work very hard to take care of my family so this does make me feel uncomfortable to ask for help but at this point I need to do what I have to do to be able to help my boys try to live as much of a normal life as I possibly can, and for myself and my husband to be able to transport our children.
To donate go here.
Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.
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