Day 265 | JUNE 02, 2022

Good evening, Friends, Today is day 265 of our new and amazing life.

Today was another early morning, poor baby Julien is teething so bad, but Thank God his fever has almost vanished today!

I was down by 7am, and did a little work (book work), before I had breakfast with London and Charlie, and we left around 9:30am towards Richmond.

Today, Charlie went to see a Pain Management practitioner, and the hour-long ride is very hard on Charlie. Every bump on the road causes discomfort, today for the first time, we got to feel a little bit of the difficulties faced by millions of Americans who are disabled, the issue of accessibility on buildings.

We arrived at the office location, and right there we saw the Handicap parking spots, so I parked, unloaded Charlie, and when I made my way to the front door, I noticed that it had 2 steps, and no ramp!

A little confused, I looked around, and even walked halfway around the building and did not see another entrance, so I told Charlie to wait until I went inside and asked where the accessible entrance was, and to my surprise, it was at the complete opposite side of the building, so Charlie said, you drive around and I will ‘drive” my chair around, so we did.

I went around and parked on the handicap spot on the other side, and when I got out of the car, no sign of Charlie or her aid? Where did they go?

I rush on foot around the building, and there she was tracing all the way back to the original parking spot, getting into the parking lot pavement and “driving” her chair back towards me on the parking lot pavement and not on the sidewalk.

When I asked her what was going on?

She said, look there is this sidewalk around the building, but when it ends, there is no ramp, there is a curb that is almost 6 inches high! I just could not believe it!

Yes, it took us almost 13 minutes to enter a building!!!

We both looked at each other and said, how come we never knew that situations like this could exist? Well, I guess we just found one more cause to add to our Non-profit interests.

I just feel so humbled and blessed to be learning and suffering the challenges that many do endure every day, so I can become more compassionate and an advocate on this issue, because it is not acceptable that we don’t have proper accessibility entries or accommodations.

After the appointment, Charlie was hungry and we decided to stop and grab a bite to eat, Charlie choose mezeh, and we had no issues accessing that restaurant 😉

By chance, as we entered the restaurant, we came across two board members from SAI, and they were so happy to see Charlie, and we end up having a fantastic lunch together, we are so grateful for all the amazing work they do at SAI, and for the care that Charlie received in there, We know that we have made lifelong friends in there.

The ride back was equally long and tiring, but we made it home just before the storm, Thank God! We lost power at our house for about 3.5 hours, I am glad that most of Charlie's equipment has battery backups, and next week we should receive a small backup generator for Charlie's medical devices in case of a prolonged power outage.

Charlie was drained and exhausted when we arrived, she went straight to bed and went to sleep, she was in a lot of pain.

It is becoming clear that her coming home does not mean any return to any level of normalcy, it is a lot of work to go to appointments, and to spend so much time sitting on her chair, her open wounds are very painful.

We are beyond grateful that she is home and for the incredible care she is receiving, but we would be lying if we didn’t say how hard it is!

Today I learned about a very special young woman, her name is Kara and she is only 30 years old, but she has battled cancer for the last 20 years! Yes, that is right, her first brain tumor was at the age of 10!

She is a fighter and has overcome cancer 5 times before, and the time around, she has us!

Can I please ask all of you to join me, and pray for Kara, she is in need of a miracle and we will ask God for one, but only HE knows what is best for Kara, so we will also ask God to comfort her family, and to give them the strength needed to be by Kara's side.

When we think we have it hard, it just takes us to look around, and there is always going to be someone in more need.

Once in a while, let's look around and see who's in need around us.

Kara, I don’t know you, but from what I have heard, you are a lot like Charlie! And I know you will continue to fight the good fight!

May God Bless you!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

André