The Give a Kid a Lift Program – 10 Years of Partnership

Every year we work with a variety of partners on different projects to help implement accessibility and mobility solutions that foster inclusion, independence, and recreation for individuals with disabilities and medical conditions.

2019 is an important milestone in this mission as it signs the 10th anniversary of our collaboration with Easter Seals Give a Kid a Lift program.

Easter Seals Give a Kid a Lift program offers accessibility support with critically needed equipment to people with disabilities looking to develop independent living. The main objective is to provide a residential elevator in the home of a family with a disability.

This year, Easter Seals has chosen to support 15-year-old Jeslyn Ramsay. Jeslyn has a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy.

We would love you to get to know Jeslyn and her story a little through a few words that her mother wrote to us.

“Jeslyn was a medical mystery since the day she was born. She was hospitalized until she was 18 days old when she came home with the instructions to “love her.” She had a muscle biopsy surgery at 3 months old, which gave a misdiagnosis and another muscle biopsy surgery at 18-months-old that confirmed she had Muscular Dystrophy. This was scary to find out, but at least we had support from MD Canada. There are over 150 different known types of MD, and Jeslyn was not fitting into any of the categories. In the summer of 2015, Jeslyn was chosen by the NIH (National Institute of Health) in Washington DC as one of 5 Canadians to be studied. The doctors at the NIH were known for giving an immediate subtype diagnosis, after a few short tests…but not for Jeslyn, that didn’t happen for her. She truly is a medical mystery, as her “subtype” of MD is not known. This unknown is difficult, as we have nothing to compare to, and we don’t see how her disease will progress. In October 2016, Jeslyn underwent an extensive spinal surgery for neuromuscular scoliosis. She is fused with 2 titanium rods and 23 screws and bolts in her back from L2 to T2. The operation and recovery were the scariest time in our life, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”