A member of the CAD community, Charles Spurr, and his wife have a young son with Cerebral Palsy. Something like this can be very emotionally taxing, but it also can put quite a financial strain on a family.
They are trying to raise money to buy a van that will be able to transport Tristan and his wheelchair safely and conveniantly. I’m asking you to assist Tristan’s parents in affording him a more reliable and safe method of transportation.
Charles and his wife have created a trust for their son, called Tristan’s Wheels Association. If you’d like to help you can donate through the website.
Tristan is a 5 year old boy who was born 2 months premature under severe circumstances. Because of his troubled birth he was deprived of oxygen that caused brain damage. The damage resulted in Cerebral Palsy and Global Developmental Delay. Tristan is a bright, beautiful and loving child who can charm his way into anyone’s heart; unfortunately he is unable to walk unassisted and requires the use of manual and power wheelchairs, as well as a specialty walker. Tristan has on going needs that as he continues to grow and fight for independence, his home and social life needs to adapt for him as well. He currently uses a manual wheelchair and has a power chair he can not use because of no way to transport it. He also has a walker that he loves.
He already is 3ft tall and weighs 60lbs, placing him in and out of the car is very difficult and painful for us as well as positioning of his body can be straining on his muscles, not to mention, he barely fits in the backseat with his length.
Right now our primary goal in fundraising is to obtain money or support in some form for a Van that can transport Tristan’s equipment and that with any luck will at least have a ramp with it. A van will also provide additional space for him and make transferring easier on all of us. What we use currently is a 94 grand prix that is on its classic last legs. In order for us to take him anywhere, we have to completely dismantle his manual wheelchair and reassemble it at each stop. The chair takes up the entire trunk and when we have the walker it takes up ¾ of the backseat, this is not ideally the safest thing for Tristan to be sitting next too, but it is the only way to get his walker out to the mall to allow him to run around.
We are not in a position to be able to buy a used van or lease one. We are on a very fixed income with no savings and have been working through financial difficulties this past year. We are open about our situation, lifestyle and first and fore most our son’s needs.
Simply put to increase his quality of life is for him to have the freedom of reliable transportation.