For anyone who's interested, my wife wrote the following on a gofundme page:
My husband, Duncan, has Ehlers Danlos syndrome (hypermobility joint syndrome). We hope that buying this bed will help him manage his constant pain and get much-needed sleep. Having Ehlers Danlos means that Duncan's joints dislocate frequently every day and cause chronic pain, fatigue and varying loss of mobility. He started using a wheelchair (on and off) back in May 2015. We are still adjusting as a family to this new lifestyle that involves disability. Duncan is in constant pain (which is very hard to watch when there's not much I can do!) and yet he has carried on working and being an amazing husband and father. He has always had difficulty sleeping and now most nights he can't sleep until about 6am because he is just in so much pain. He wakes up with aches and pains from our current bed, so we decided it is time to get an adjustable bed. An adjustable bed is like a hospital bed where the head and feet move up and down in many different positions providing good support for your body. Duncan tested out one of these beds for a whole afternoon and that evening he was so happy, because he felt so physically good for once! We are hopeful that this bed will help him manage his pain levels better. He does a lot of his work from the bed during the day too, so it will be used day and night!
We've discovered that disability is a really expensive thing! We have had to spend 10k on a wheelchair access van this year so we are at the place of needing to ask for help to buy this bed. Any little you can give would be very much appreciated.
If this bed works out well, and if we’ve raised enough, then we hope to also get an adjustable bed for the downstairs living room as well. Because right now, Duncan practically lives in our bedroom, is isolated and away from family life and rarely goes out. So to have a bed downstairs would be amazing and could change the way we spend time together as a family and the way we show hospitality and socialize with friends. Also, it would help as Duncan has a lot of meetings with people for his work as a pastor and is now limited because he can't spend much time downstairs.
An adjustable bed won't heal his medical condition, but it may help a lot in managing his pain levels, helping him get more sleep, and remove some of the problem of isolation when he is bedridden.
Thank you for considering giving. Our whole family is very thankful! Thanks again for your support via gifts, friendship, prayers!
God bless you!
Love,
Shay and Duncan Forbes
(PS. if you prefer to donate to us directly and avoid the 9% fees being deducted please be in touch. )
https://www.gofundme.com/2xwfggs
