NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Laurie Sore, a mother of two, has had symptoms related to spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a progressive genetic condition affecting the nerves in the spinal cord, since she was five.
But she wasn’t diagnosed with the rare form of muscular dystrophy until her 30s.
Sore said as she lost the ability to walk, she could no longer load her wheelchair in the family van.
Just getting into her current van is a struggle Sore can barely manage.
“I’ve lost all my independence, and I feel like my life is just slowly going away. I’m missing out on so much," said Sore.
She said she’s afraid that one of these days, she will fall and break something.
“And I’m just not ever gonna get the little bit of mobility left that I have. I’m not gonna be able to get it back,” said Sore.
There is a way Sore can regain some of her independence, but it’s not cheap.
A new wheelchair van with an automatic ramp can run about $80,000.
She is just fine getting a used one for half as much.
“I always try and look on the positive and to be happy for what I have and not upset with what I don’t have,” said Sore.
Friends convinced her to set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to buy one.
“It would just completely—I’m trying to not get emotional. But it would just completely change my life. It would mean I could go to all my kid’s baseball games or football games without the stress and the worry of having to have someone with me to help me. It would be life-altering,” she said.
