Client 254: Freedom and Gratitude

What is freedom? For most of us, it’s a fuzzy concept we love to talk about but struggle to define. But for Susie and her son Roy, our 254th OnRamp client, freedom is this 2012 Honda Odyssey ramp van. For the first time in years, they have FREEDOM to leave the house and pursue healing and hope.

Susie is a widow and caretaker for Roy, who was diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder in 2023. After several years of rapid health decline, he is now confined to a power wheelchair and in need of constant medical care. In the midst of Roy’s health decline, Susie’s husband passed away and Roy’s wife abandoned him. Now Susie must provide that full time care for Roy as well as help Roy raise his two year old daughter. Fortunately for Roy, as Susie’s advocate told us, “Susie’s love is fierce and unconditional. It fuels her strength to face each day, no matter how hard.” She and her daughters and extended family are absolutely committed to care for Roy and his daughter in any and every way.

Yet that vital care was so much more difficult to provide before last Friday because Susie lacked a wheelchair-accessible vehicle to transport Roy to essential health care treatments here and in Houston. They could go nowhere; they were basically trapped in their own home isolated from the medical care Roy needs. This is why OnRamp exists: to provide the essential FREEDOM that families like Roy’s need to heal and thrive. Thanks to our wonderful donors, we were able to purchase this ramp van from a local widow who no longer needed it after her wheelchair bound husband passed. Now the van is providing life-saving transportation for another family.

On this Thanksgiving week, we are so very grateful to our donors whose gifts provide freedom to families like this. Thank you for helping us bless Susie and Roy. May their love fill you and yours with gratitude today!