Emily Progin, Content Manager
[email protected] / 800.642.8399
Release: Immediate
CAMPAIGN HELPING 24-YEAR-OLD TO ACHIEVE HER DREAM:
“I Want to Care for Others the Way Others Have Cared for Me”
BATON ROUGE, La.—In 2016, Roddneicka Joseph was a middle schooler enjoying a dance class when an accident forever changed her life. She lost the ability to walk on her own, faced 9 surgeries and a medical coma, and almost died twice. Today, the 24-year-old is living proof of the power of hope and resilience.
Roddneicka has a simple dream: to become a medical assistant, helping others the way they’ve helped her and showing compassion and patience to folks in similar circumstances. To maintain her studies and her health, she needs a wheelchair accessible van—a cost insurance will not cover despite the medical necessity.
That’s why her community has started a fundraising campaign with the national nonprofit Help Hope Live in Roddneicka’s honor. Donations are tax deductible at: https://helphopelive.org/campaign/19089/
Roddneicka was born prematurely and experienced mobility challenges that made her a little different from her peers. She had an irregular gait, which led to bullying and personal challenges as she grew older, not to mention the need for surgeries to support healthy growth and mobility.
Despite the challenges, she stayed active and engaged. But in 2016, the then-middle schooler experienced an injury during dance class that led to multiple life-changing diagnoses, including spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.
Roddneicka faced 9 surgeries, life-threatening infections, and a 2-week medically induced coma. “I like to say that I beat death twice,” she explained. “God wasn’t ready for me yet.”
Today, the 24-year-old is resilience in action. She has learned to feed and dress herself, and she has even been able to start using a walker part-time. She recently passed her driver’s license test to begin driving on her own.
“I have learned to adapt and rebuild my life,” Roddneicka explained. She has her sights set on becoming a medical assistant: “I want to care for others just as so many caregivers have cared for me. I know what it feels like to be scared and in pain. I want to be the person who understands.”
That dream relies on consistent, reliable, and safe transportation.
Public transportation optioIn 2016, Roddneicka Joseph was a middle schooler enjoying a dance class when an accident forever changed her life. She lost the ability to walk on her own, faced 9 surgeries and a medical coma, and almost died twice. Today, the 24-year-old is living proof of the power of hope and resilience.ns are unsafe to use for someone with her level of mobility, and no standard vehicle can carry her 400-pound power chair. “I need to attend medical appointments, continue my studies, and be active in my community without fears or limitations,” she explained.
That’s why Roddneicka’s community turned to a trusted source of help: the national medical fundraising nonprofit Help Hope Live. The campaign in her honor has raised $115 so far towards the out-of-pocket cost of a wheelchair van.
Donations can be made online at: https://helphopelive.org/campaign/19089/
Unlike a GoFundMe campaign, donations to Help Hope Live are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law, and all funds raised will be administered by the nonprofit to cover verified medical and related expenses. Help Hope Live verifies medical and financial need for every patient.
Help Hope Live is a national nonprofit that specializes in engaging communities in secure, tax-deductible fundraising campaigns for people who need a transplant or are affected by a catastrophic injury or illness. Since 1983, campaigns organized by Help Hope Live have raised over $193 million to pay patient expenses, assisting more than 25,000 patient families. ###
