The Season of Giving

The Sears family in Canada needs our help.  I met Dana on Twitter, & we have since become e-pals.  Her family is struggling to pay for the care her son, Mason, needs. I know many of us look for ways to help those in need, especially this time of year.  PLEASE consider helping this family.  Thanks to Bonnie’s Bows you can even get some Christmas shopping done at the same time!  Here is a sample of Bonnie’s goodies:

 

Here’s Dana’s story in her own words:

Hello, My name is Dana Sears & I am Mason's Mom. Mason was born with Special Needs. At this time we do not fully understand the "Special" but we do understand Mason's "needs". Because Mason doesn't have a diagnoses, Drs dont really know what causes his issues, we do not receive government funding for Mason's needs. In 2009 Mason received his G-tube, this is a tube implanted into his stomach to allow us to bypass his swallowing. Mason's feeding costs are around $100 a day, that works out to $36,000 a year, just to feed him. That is impossible for a young family. Mason also needs Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Developmental treatment, Behavioral intervention & tools to help us in our day 2 day life.

Many families with Special needs Children struggle financially due to the extraordinary costs of raising our children. Our Family has gone $64,000 dollars in debt just giving Mason the bare minimums for the last year and a half. We are unable to supply Mason with everything that the Drs. and specialists say he needs. We have had help from Variety-The Children's Charity, they supplied one year grant of $5000 when we were weeks away from having to give Mason over to the Ministry, we had no where left to borrow money from.
I never thought by Blogging my feelings, or our journey trying to solve Mason's Riddle that I would run across someone like Bonnie. Bonnie is an amazing woman, to want to help my family is more than I can thank her for. I am not good at asking for help, but we are again needing some funds for Mason. We are stuck waiting to hear about our appeal to the government and waiting to hear from Charities. As the next couple of months go by we will be in need of more medical supplies again.

What will we use the Donations for? The specialists have asked for Mason to have a swing that he can use at all hours of the day. Swinging is a long acting drug in Mason's body, better than any pharmaceutical available. Mason is the happiest when he is swinging. Over time we have purchased most of the parts like the swings, rope ladder, rings, and just need to purchase the lumber and bolts to complete it! This swing will allow Mason to use one anyone type if swing at one time and will sit in a room in our house. Also we need to purchase some more feeding bags, and a few Mic-key buttons. We go through a Mic-key button every two months, these cost just over $400 a piece. On average I spend $30-$45 a week in parking for appointments. This is a huge expense that most people don't realize. We have one credit card, right now it's maxed out at $1500 for just parking dues. It's crazy.

Our family can't thank you enough for helping. Complete strangers helping my family, it just amazes me. When everyone around us has left, complete strangers have picked us up, encouraged and now want to help support us. It's.Truly.Deeply.Amazing.
 
Warm Regards, 
The Sears Family
 www.DanaSears.com
Twitter: DanaSearsFam

So, how can YOU help? SIMPLE.

1) Head on over to Bonnie’s Bows and make a purchase.  Twenty percent of her sales will go to Dana’s family.

OR

2) You can go directly to Dana’s blog and make a donation through PayPal. There is a donate button on the right hand side of the page.

OR

3) Spread the word.  If you blog- steal as much of this as you want and re-post. Twitter? Link us up! Facebook, Myspace, Message Boards- we will take any advertising we can get!

In this season of gratitude and giving, please consider helping this family out in any of the above mentioned ways.  Anything is appreciated!