KENMORE, N.Y. (WKBW) — For seven years, Mike Shapiro has been battling a uncommon type of spinal most cancers known as Chordoma which has severely affected his mobility.
Final yr, he spent months within the hospital for remedy and a stroke that left him additional debilitated.
In January, 7 Information was there as his longtime buddies constructed him a wheelchair-accessible ramp in order that he might stay in his condominium along with his longtime girlfriend Lynn Buy.
“It has been a very lengthy seven months,” Shapiro stated in January when he was again in his personal driveway on Euclid Avenue for the primary time since most cancers surgical procedure.
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Now, he wants assist once more. Shapiro can not stroll and which means he can’t get out and in of a car on his personal.
“Seven years I have been coping with this,” Shapiro advised 7 Information Senior Reporter Maki Becker Thursday at his residence in Kenmore. “It is at all times one factor after one other.”
He and his girlfriend obtained a van, considering they’d have the ability to get a ramp for it. Then they realized that making it wheelchair accessible would value them $26,000.
“The associated fee is simply astronomical and it is cash that we do not have,” stated Buy.
Shapiro is ready to get transportation lined for his medical appointments, however not for anything.
A roundtrip value for a wheelchair-accessible journey can value $200 spherical journey, “We do not have that,” Shapiro stated.
“So he actually cannot get out a lot and do issues. Like we will not go to a farmer’s market or, you understand, easy little life issues,” Buy stated.
In the event that they ever do get a wheelchair-accessible van, they stated they know the place they’ll first go: Glen Falls Park in Williamsville, the place they went for one in every of their first dates.
“It is a very serene spot,” she stated. “We might go there, stroll as much as the falls, simply sit there holding fingers and listening to the falls.”
Their good friend, Colleen Degenhardt, has helped them begin a GoFundMe marketing campaign to assist them increase the cash for his or her van and for different medical bills. Yow will discover the GoFundMe right here.
