On March 28, 2003 our lives were changed forever. Our 20 year old son (Anthony) was in a car accident that almost took his life. Although he survived, he suffered a severe spinal cord injury that has left him paralyzed from the neck down, except for minimal arm movement. As if this were not enough, while in the hospital, he had a "breathing incident" that resulted in brain damage that caused aphasia/ anarthria (unable to speak) He had to learn how to talk and swallow all over again and then found out his vocal chords had been paralyzed, was malnourished, and developed horrible pressure sores (bed sores) that were life threatening.

Fortunately, he was transferred to a better hospital that was equipped to handle his injury and he was able to make some progress. Because of all these calamities, he used up all his insurance coverage getting treated for all the for things that occurred while in the first hospital. Anthony will not be able to have any rehabilitation until July 2004, if then. He was in the  two hospitals for over 9 months. Anthony became stable enough to come home in January 2004. Anthony will need 24 hour care and of course we have taken on this responsibility, as it was either bring him home or put our 21 year old son in a nursing home. Anthony only has Medicaid for insurance and it does not provide coverage for any in-home services. It doesn't make sense, Medicaid will pay for nursing home care (24/7) but no support to families for in-home care to help families that wish to have their loved ones at home. This is ridiculous since nursing home care is so much more expensive than in-home care. There is a Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program that manages a  Medicaid waiver  to help people in this situation ( to avoid beig put in a nursing home) by providing some aid in the home, BUT there is a one to four year waiting list. There are no other programs to help with this issue. We have searched everywhere: Veteran's Administration (no help for dependents of vets), United Way, Hillsborough County, to no avail.

Here is where we are asking for your help. We do not have the finances to pay for in-home care/therapy as of now and have to do it solely by ourselves and work 7 days a week. So even though he is home, there is always the horrible possibility of him going into a nursing home because we do not have the finances and/or help in place for long-term care as of now. We are so scared that this could happen. We've all heard what happens in nursing homes and this would be horrible for a 21 year old young man on the road to recovery. He would lose all the strength and progress that he has made and still needs to make. Thank You for your support. The Waters Family

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