Kei Usami

Dear Family and Friends:

As many of you know, our son Kei had a catastrophic accident in February 2011. Since then, Kei spent 15 days in intensive care and over 110 days in the hospital and rehab. Kei is now coming home to his family, and to new challenges.

Kei’s returning home is a significant milestone. However, Kei remains confined to a wheel chair – for now. He also needs to get used to tackling the tasks of daily living, things he used to do without thinking.

Kei has been working hard in physical and occupational therapy every day. He is planning to continue doing as much rehab as possible over the summer. He hopes to go back to school this fall, to be able to stand up and to walk again. One day he hopes to get back to the tennis court. His Varsity Tennis teammates from Fordham University and Darien High School know he has the strength and positive outlook to face these daunting challenges.

There are many physical therapy and rehabilitation programs that are available to spinal cord injury victims like Kei, to help them regain their independence and to walk again. These programs are extremely costly and beyond the coverage provided by private medical insurance and government programs. Kei also faces the overwhelming daily cost of healthcare, medications and 24/7 home care assistance, as well as the expense of modifying our home to accommodate his special needs, rehab equipment, a power-assisted wheelchair, and special transportation to Fordham.

We need help for Kei.
What Do Spinal Cord Injuries Really Cost?( http://www.sci-info-pages.com/facts.html)

Length of initial hospitalization following personal injury in acute care units: 15 days
Average stay in rehabilitation unit: 44 days
Initial hospitalization costs following injury: $140,000
Average first year expenses for a SCI injury (all groups): $198,000
First year expenses for quadriplegics: $417,000
Average lifetime costs for quadriplegics, age of injury 25: $1.35 million

Source: The University of Alabama National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center – March 2002

To help with these expenses, a fundraising campaign in Kei’s honor has been established through HelpHOPELive, the leader in fund-raising assistance to support transplant and catastrophic injury patients (www.helphopelive.org). Contributions are tax-deductible, qualify for corporate matching gifts, and are administered by HelpHOPELive for Kei’s injury-related expenses. Contributions made to HelpHOPELive, with notation ‘in honor of Kei Usami’, are placed into a “restricted regional fund” which can only be used for Kei’s medical/rehab/vehicular needs that are not covered by medical insurance and government supports. Kei will have access to the names and addresses of contributors unless donations are made anonymously. He will not know the amounts of each donation. 96% of each contribution benefits Kei’s fundraising campaign (93% of credit card donations). The 4%-7% is used to offset fundraising supplies and administrative expenses at HelpHOPELive.

Make checks payable to: HelpHOPELive New York Spinal Cord Injury Fund
Note in memo section: “In honor of Kei Usami”
Please mail to: HelpHOPELive
Two Radnor Corporate Center
100 Matsonford Road, Suite 100
Radnor, PA 19087

For credit card contributions, please call 800-642-8399 or select the above DONATE NOW button.

Together we can make a difference for Kei’s future as he faces this challenging time. We are grateful for the kindness and emotional support you have shown us. Many friends and relatives have already offered generous financial support.

We cannot fully convey our gratitude for your financial contribution to help Kei, so that he can return to school, walk and play tennis and achieve everything he dreamed of before his accident.

Sincerely yours,

Kaoru and Minako Usami