Tanner Levi Simmons

Our Son Tanner is a 12-year-old boy living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a progressive life shortening condition that has significantly reduces his strength and independence. In 2025, he began using a manual wheelchair part time, but by May 2026 his needs had progressed to almost full-time use of a power wheelchair. He has recently lost the ability to independently get up from the floor and now needs more help with everyday activities like bathing, getting dressed and transferring to and from bed to wheelchair.

Tanner Loves everything in nature and enjoys spotting and educating us on all the facts and how beautify made Gods’s creatures, spiders, rocks, birds flowers and anything else in nature. He ask me to take a picture and google anything he doesn’t recognize or know the name of so he can know what it eats where it came from and what’s its purpose in the world. Even through loss of mobility and strength his new chair has allowed us to be able to get out for walks and enjoy time together when the weather permits and has given him back some independence in a world where he becomes more reliant on assistance each day. He often, through his view on things we overlook, brings a humbling perspective that we can all benefit from.

Tanner’s new power wheelchair weighs 379 pounds, and our family’s current van cannot transport it. For now, we rely on a hitch carrier attached to an older SUV, which means we often need to take two vehicles whenever the whole family travels together. Tanner due to contact sensitivities to water and rain becomes challenging to keep his chair protected and a way for him to limit the impact of the weather when carried on the carrier. This also limits who can take Tanner to school and medical appointments, especially because Tanner’s mom has a severe skin reaction to something in the SUV.

We are a family of 5 consisting of Tanner, his two sisters Adalind Grace and Charlotte Faith and Mom and Dad. The need for reliable accessible transportation is especially urgent not only for Tanner but also to care for his youngest sister Charlotte Faith, who recently came home after a heart transplant and a 696-day hospital stay. Many of our medical appointments are 40 minutes to an hour away, making dependable transportation essential for keeping up with care, school, appointments, and daily family life for a family of five. Additionally with his increasing muscle weakness it is safer and more supportive for his body to remain in his chair for transportation (considering impact from bumps and movement from the road) than a standard vehicle seat. As Tanner’s chair that he relies on took more than 6 months and three appeals with insurance to obtain and the risk is also greater for damage being on a hitch carrier which would be detrimental if damaged.

Mobility vans cost between 90,000-120,000$. Currently this is not obtainable on our on with all of the other expenses at hand and further foreseeable medical care related expenses and modifications for accessibility. As such our family has already been exploring grants, assistance programs, and fundraising options, but after applying and communicating with the organizations most programs either do not cover mobility vans, only help with modifications to newer vans, have limited funding, or require the family to raise more than 50% themselves before they are able to provide assistance. Our current funding includes the trade-in equity of our current van at approximately $16,500 after loan payoff, but the total need remains much higher.

This fundraiser is to help our family to obtain a safe, reliable, wheelchair-accessible vehicle so we can transport Tanner in his power chair safely, travel together, and make it to the many medical and school-related appointments our children depend on. The goal is not just a vehicle—it is independence, safety, and the ability for our family of five to move forward together and reduce as many burdens from our children’s complex lives as possible. Any additional funds raised beyond what is required for the mobility van will be used towards Tanners current and future medical needs.