“Thank you. You really have no idea how much you give to people – you are giving us dignity and self-respect.”
Meagan is one of Youngcare’s extremely grateful grant recipients. She has a busy life tending to horses, gardening, caring for her Dalmatian Ceasar and creating arts and crafts at her beautiful property in Central Queensland.
Ill health resulted in Meagan’s hospitalisation in 2021. When she finally returned home after long stints in various facilities, including aged care, she had lost her ability to use her legs and was suffering extreme anxiety. Meagan now needed a wheelchair to get around, and while she has lived with complex visible and invisible disabilities her whole life, the NDIS would not fund her requirements. This is when she first reached out to Youngcare.
“I was discharged without any help at all, so, it was a last-ditch effort Google search. I reached Sarah at the time, and it was life changing because I got a wheelchair.”
Now with the ability to move around unaided, Meagan regained some of her independence. She was back doing the things she loved! One of Meagan’s favourite past-times was gardening and creating art on her verandah, so when the timber boards began to deteriorate, she became worried about her safety.
Eventually, the structure of Meagan’s verandah became so unsafe she found herself housebound. As it was the only way in and out of her home, Meagan needed to repair the verandah urgently.
“My verandah was rotting, and I couldn’t get out safely in a wheelchair to access the ramp. We had planks across the broken sections, bits of timber plywood, so that we didn’t fall through the rotting timber…we just didn’t have the extra money to fix it.”
So, in 2022, Youngcare supporters changed Meagan’s life again with an At Home Care Grant to rebuild her verandah!
“It was so much less stressful coming home, knowing I was able to safely get into my house without risk of falling through the rotting boards! I’m so excited that I can safely now venture to this part of my house, leaving and arriving safely.”
For Meagan, these home renovations not only provide vital access to safety but enable her to feel like herself again. Meagan has been gifted freedom and independence; she can access her verandah unassisted every day and enjoy the great outdoors again. For this, she sends her heartfelt gratitude to you:
“You have no idea how much your donations help people and make such a huge difference to people’s lives. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, you are amazing.”
Meagan has some advice to people who might be in a similar situation:
“Please apply for a grant, and please ask for help. Even if Youngcare aren’t able to help you, they may know another avenue for help. Just never give up. Search, search, search and ask questions.”
