Leslie McLaughlin

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, our very dear friend and colleague Leslie C. McLaughlin, VMD, (seen here in photo with her brother, Bruno) suffered a C5-C6 spinal cord injury on March 1, 2012 while skiing. Since then, Leslie has been fighting with determination to regain strength and function while battling some of the side effects that come with paralysis. In July 2013 she moved out of the apartment she had lived in for years. We found a little rental house in Torrance, CA where the landlord was very supportive of the modifications we made thanks to the generosity of so many of you.

The fundraising efforts through Help Hope Live allowed us to widen two doorways for wheelchair accessibility and create a new doorway for direct access between Leslie’s bedroom and her bathroom. Your generous donations installed a ramp for access in and out of the house, and finally, the bathtub was removed, and a roll-in shower was installed, as well an accessible sink. The move was a lot of work, but this house is much more suited to Leslie’s needs, not to mention the fact that her beloved dog, Domenica, now has a great fenced-in yard to hang out in! (photos already on her webpage)

Leslie became involved with the very excellent Life Rolls On group, and has twice attended their ‘They Will Surf Again’ events. It’s a wonderful organization loaded with volunteers and specialized surfboards. At each event, Leslie was taken out into the water around 10 times and was set up to catch the waves with one volunteer hanging on to the back of the board and riding the wave in with her to make sure she stayed on the wave, didn’t fall in the water — what a great feeling of freedom! She was really jazzed up.

Physical therapy/rehab is about to be over for Leslie so we need to kick-start phase two of our fundraising efforts in order to purchase a standing frame and/or FES bike as Leslie’s continued use of this equipment are critical to: maintaining bone density, keeping unused muscles moving to minimize atrophy, maintaining muscle tone to keep hips from dislocating and help maintain healthy skin with increased circulation. Leslie plans to return to work in a limited capacity, but will continue to have many uninsured expenses such as home health care and continued home modifications.

To help with these uninsured injury-related expenses, a fundraising campaign in Leslie’s honor has been established with Help Hope Live, a non-profit organization that has been assisting transplant patients for over 30 years. In 2000 they expanded their mission to include those who have sustained a catastrophic injury. All contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law, are held by Help Hope Live in the Southwest Spinal Cord Injury Fund, and are administered by Help Hope Live for Leslie’s injury-related expenses only. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation today by simply clicking the GIVE button.

We are particularly grateful for your generosity. Your donation is greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,
Lydia G. Hamilton, VMD
301-343-4879 / [email protected]