Tag: Accessible Bathroom

We’d like to announce that this handsome man, Joseph, will be the lucky recipient of a dream room makeover and bathroom renovation from Sunshine on a Ranney Day. He is not only charming, but also a victorious warrior who has won many battles throughout his lifetime. During pregnancy, Joseph’s parents were given the news that Joseph was going to be born with Spina Bifida as well as a Chiari malformation, which is s structural defect in the brain, and hydrocephalus. Joseph was born three weeks early and was immediately rushed over to Children’s Hospital for surgery. He spent the first several months in and out of the hospital and has endured seventeen surgeries over his nineteen years of life.

His disabilities do not define who he is and he never lets them slow him down. Joseph always has a smile on his face, loves to laugh and make jokes. He has a deep love for sports and has played Baseball, Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Football. His incredible passion for sports is unwavering and he loves not only to play, but also to watch or help coaching younger teams. He currently helps manage his old 8th grade Middle School team at Vickery Creek Middle. Joseph aspires to work for a professional sports team one day. He is always willing to try new adventures and works diligently to reach his goals. He is encouraged to dream big and he will surely succeed as he never gives up. Sunshine on a Ranney Day is overjoyed to be working on a special renovation project designed especially for Joseph. This project will not only provide him with a fabulous new room, but also an accessible bathroom. Join us in spreading cheer throughout his home so he can enjoy his bright future in style.

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This handsome and adventurous young man is Noah. Exploration of the great outdoors and exhilarating activities fuel Noah’s passion. He lives for adventure and spending almost every waking moment outdoors. While some teens enjoy playing video games for hours on end, Noah prefers to keep his eyes on the sky and feet off the ground. As a young teenager, he spent most of his time pedaling his bike over mountain trails, flipping off boulders into a lake, diving, snowboarding or wakeboarding. He and his friends shared many escapades at skate parks and trampoline parks where he excelled at skilled tricks and flips. His favorite organized sport is baseball and he played in several levels throughout the years, including recreational ball, All-Stars and Travel ball. He even achieved his ultimate goal: playing at Dreams Park in Cooperstown, NY. On July 26 of 2017, everything changed within a split second. Noah was in an accident that altered his future tremendously. He had gone with two of his friends to their favorite trampoline park. They were jumping for most of the afternoon, doing their usual flips and tricks. Noah was working on perfecting a flip when he under-rotated and landed on his neck. This harsh landing ended up compressing his spinal cord and fracturing three vertebrae. Instantly, he lost all feeling from his chest down. His arms and hands went limp and he felt the sensation of being outside of his body. He was rushed to the hospital via ambulance and endured a significant live saving surgery. In this invasive procedure, two rods were inserted to re-align his spinal cord and eleven screws attached the vertebrae to those rods.

Fortunately, the spinal cord was not severed, but he sustained spinal cord injury that left him a quadriplegic. He spent two weeks in ICU and then transferred to an intensive inpatient therapy program for nine weeks. He worked diligently in physical therapy several hours per day to regain motor skills and relearn how to do everyday tasks that previously happened automatically. After inpatient rehab, he spent six weeks in a specialized outpatient therapy program where they continued to target skills that seem so simple. The skills we all take for granted, like rolling over. Through determination and hard work, Noah found himself becoming stronger, regaining sensation and learning how to live life after his injury. He and his therapists worked on getting dressed, bathing and completing school work. He also learned to mobilize via a wheelchair. This was quite different than what he was used to. Upon his homecoming, Noah faced a new set of challenges as his home was not adequately designed for living with a wheelchair. The home’s floor plan included narrow doorways and neither a bathroom nor a bedroom on the ground floor. He only had access to two rooms in the house and the formal living room had to become his bedroom. In addition, he was forced to take showers at the local YMCA since there was an accessible shower there. After four months of the day program with outpatient therapy, it was time for Noah to return to school. Since Noah was injured right before his senior year of high school, he missed the entire first semester while he was working to recover. In order to graduate with the rest of his classmates, he doubled up on work and completed the entire year’s curriculum in one semester. To top that off, he graduated with all A’s and B’s. Noah’s hard work and never give-up attitude has paid dividends in academics and rehabilitation. He has regained so much movement that as he has regained substantial movement and feeling below the point of injury that his condition is no longer classified as a complete injury. Noah continues today to work toward reaching his goals. This year, Noah’s sights are set on college. His ambition is to study audio and video technology. Although he previously biked down mountains, he is currently learning to maneuver his wheelchair on the rugby court as a member of the Shepherd Smash team at Shepherd Rehabilitation Center. Noah is determined to enjoy many more adventures despite his injury and refuses to allow the challenges he faces to get in the way of his dreams. He faces life with gratefulness and a reverence for those who have shown him an outpouring of love. He is especially thankful that Sunshine on a Ranney Day will be renovating his bathroom and bedroom to allow his greater independence and mobility. Please join us in bringing a little sunshine to Noah’s life by supporting this project and coming to the great reveal party!

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Caleb, the tall and handsome guy pictured here, is in the 11th grade.  He exudes bravery and strength and enjoys being active.  He loves to snorkel, kayak and hike.  He is also a devout sports fan.  He loves to watch all sports and imitates the players’ actions.  His favorite part of football is kicking.  He loves to help and automatically becomes a friend to anyone who meets him.  He thinks his smile will get him through life and he might be right; he has an amazing smile. 

Before Caleb was born it was discovered that he had bilateral clubbed feet.  After birth, doctors also discovered that he had a chromosome disorder.  At three days old, Caleb had his first of many sets of casts put on to help straighten the feet.  After a few castings, Caleb had his first foot surgery at three months old.  Soon after that he started experiencing infantile spasms, a form of epilepsy.  Over the next seven years Caleb endured four more foot surgeries and countless EEGs.  He tried several different seizure medications in attempts to manage his seizures.  He experiences a variety of types of seizures and the patterns change frequently.  After a video EEG it was determined that he had Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS).  LGS is a rare syndrome in which patients have multiple seizure types along with developmental delays.  LGS is treatment-resistant.  At eight years of age, Caleb was given a vagal nerve stimulator (VNS).  This device was life changing for him. 

Caleb has endured many broken bones and a major reconstructive surgery on his feet.  This reconstruction performed at age fifteen was wildly successful and he now has straight feet.  He still wears AFOs for support, but he always rolls with it. 

In March, Caleb traveled to Orlando for Epilepsy Day and an LGS walk.  He walked over 2 kilometers! This was quite exciting, but the excitement soon turned to fear.  On the way home, his oxygen levels dropped below normal and he ended up at an ER in south Georgia.  He was transported back to Atlanta and spent the next 15 days in the ICU and then 20 days of extensive rehab.  During this hospitalization, it was determined that Caleb silently aspirates when he eats and drinks.  After eighteen years of eating by mouth Caleb now had to be fed via a tube to reduce the risk of aspiration and pneumonia.  He has handled this very well.  In addition, he also has respiratory treatments that must be performed daily keep his lungs clear. 

Despite the ailments he continually faces, Caleb approaches life with positivity and a can-do attitude.  He never lets his challenges keep him from enjoying new adventures and a fulfilled life.  

Photography by Niki Murphy Photography

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This beautiful young lady is Angel.  Angel is a vibrant eighth grader who is always smiling and is quite the social butterfly.  Those who know her well say she has never met a stranger and loves socializing at school and in the community. 

This cheerful fifteen-year old is the middle child to two other siblings, her older sister    Brianna (19) and her younger brother Eddie (12).  Brianna and Eddie play a very big part in Angel’s life as they help her parents meet her every need.  Angel reciprocated the love, supporting her older sister in cheerleading and her brother through both football and baseball seasons.

Angel was born with Schizencephaly, which is a rare congenital brain malformation in which abnormal clefts form in the cerebral hemisphere.  Schizencephaly is categorized as a developmental birth defect affecting the left hemisphere of the brain leading to impairment of speech, mobility and development.  Angel is partially paralyzed on her left side.  She is wheelchair bound and needs full assistance to participate in activities of daily living such as getting dressed, bathing and transitioning from the chair to the bed.  the demands of caring for her become more and more physically challenging as she grows and taking care of her requires all hands on deck.  Her family considers it a privilege to care for her and enjoy seeing the dazzling smiles she gives them in return.

Photography by Dinah Sutton Photography

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It is the little things that make life so sweet! This sweet little one is Lainey.  She is full of big love and a strong will.  Lainey recently endured spinal surgery so she can lift her head and to create enough room for her lungs to breathe.  Sweet Lainey was born on May 16, 2013.  Before birth her parents were told that she had a slight curve in her spine and one day would require surgery, but that was the only imperfection the perinatal specialists found.

Lainey was born via cesarean several weeks early and everything seemed to be great.  What blissful joy her parents felt as they held her in their arms.  They had an amazing first night of precious baby cuddles.

The next morning doctors rushed her to the NICU for difficulty breathing and to examine her eyes.  When she was born, they thought that her left eye was just swollen, but it actually had never fully developed.   Doctors tested her for genetic disorders and they were all clear.  Her parents were advised to see an eye doctor and a neurologist at her first birthday.

At 3 1/2 months old they noticed the onset of jerking movements.  They continued to get worse each day and they took her to the hospital.  After an MRI, the doctors revealed Lainey had Aicardi Syndrome.  

Aicardi Syndrome is a very rare syndrome that primarily affects girls and is characterized by an absent or partial corpus collosum.  As the corpus collosum is responsible for connecting the signals between the left and right brain, it is accompanied by developmental delays, visual deficits, spinal anomalies and respiratory complications.

Lainey continued to have seizures which were treated with medication.  Although this does not eliminate them, medications can help minimize them. She also began therapy, seeing specialists and taking cannabis oil to reduce her pain and seizures.  She began to thrive and everyone was thrilled with the positive outcomes.  

Treatment was successful until a severe infection at the age of two exacerbated her seizures.  This affected her ability to function, she lost all of her mobility and she began to aspirate on foods and liquids.  As a result, she was provided with tube feedings to give her body strength again.  However, multiple infections followed and she ended up in the PICU clinging to life on an oscillator.  After 19 days, she pulled through and got to go home for Christmas.  This was miraculous and brought great joy to the family.  Lainey is very susceptible to germs and must stay away from large crowds to avoid significant illness.

The journey ahead promises uncertainty, but one thing is certain: treasuring every moment cuddling this sweet girl and seeing her gorgeous smile is all that matters.

Sweet Life Photography by Kim

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