Lindsey Runkel

October 2025 marked eleven years since my accident. Reaching that milestone brought a flood of emotions. I’m proud of how far I’ve come and of the strength I’ve found in myself over the years. But as I reflected, I was also reminded of how hard it is – every single day – to stay hopeful, to stay healthy, and to keep moving forward while carrying the weight of constant medical challenges and mounting expenses. Paralysis touches every corner of my life. It’s so much more than the loss of movement and sensation. It’s an ongoing battle that never really pauses.

What makes it even harder is that so many of the things I need to live simply are not covered by health insurance. Every day I rely on medications that have no generic version, and their monthly co-pays are crushing. Being recently diagnosed with a serious autoimmune disease has made things even heavier. The biologic treatments I need are extremely expensive, and the co-pays overwhelmingly high.

There is also a wide gap between what insurance pays for vital medical supplies, such as urinary catheters, leaving me with substantial out-of-pocket expenses. These costs continue to rise. For example, I need to replace my broken bathroom assist chair and the cost has more than doubled since 2017 – it’s now over $1,500. These are just a few examples but they illustrate an exhausting reality: the financial strain never stops.

To help with the financial burden of all my medical expenses, a fundraising campaign in my honor has been established with HelpHopeLive, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising help to patients and their families for more than 30 years. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law, are held by Help Hope Live in the Northeast Spinal Cord Injury Fund, and are administered by Help Hope Live for medical-related expenses only.

Please consider a tax deductible donation. For credit card contributions, please click on the Donate button.

Please help me.  Any size donation will make a difference. Thank you in advance for your support and generosity.

– Lindsey