Karen has lived in the middle Georgia area her entire life and raised three children while working at Robins Air Force Base. “My children are now 33, 26 and 17, and I have two grandchildren that are pretty much the focal point of my life and always have been,” said Karen.
 
In April, 2017, Karen was referred to a neurologist after experiencing unexplained weakness that was progressing. “When I went for the appointment nothing could have prepared me for the neurologist’s preliminary diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS),” said Karen. “After several months of testing, waiting and praying, we received the official diagnosis in August 2017 from Emory University.”
 
Karen loves Georgia football and entertaining friends and family at her home. “I love to prepare for games by ordering pizza and wings and making finger foods,” said Karen. “I also enjoy going to the Atlanta Braves games, the movies and spending time playing and laughing with my two grandsons as much as I can.”
 
More recently, Karen began to notice the disease beginning to progress, and found it increasingly difficult to do many of the things she loved. With the help of her sister, Karen was able to be fit for a custom power wheelchair.
 
“Initially, I was apprehensive about being in a chair. I couldn’t seem to get past the thought that if I were to even be fitted for a chair then I would be giving up walking,” said Karen. “Even though I knew the loss of my ability to walk was coming, accepting it was very difficult.”
 
Lance, her Numotion ATP, helped to shift Karen’s perspective away from the loss she was about to experience to help her see all of the independence she could gain with a power chair. “Lance’s positive demeanor and caring nature was extremely effective in assisting me with starting the process of coping with the physical loss I was dealing with,” said Karen. “He helped me to see how much I would gain by accepting the chair while I still could do things with my grandkids and family. Numotion could not have found a better representative for their company.”
 
While Karen was able to quickly receive her custom power chair with the help of Lance and the Numotion team, she faced many obstacles, prior to Lance stepping in to help, that made it seem nearly impossible for her to get the assistance she needed.
 
“The other company I tried to work with before Numotion didn’t want to help me,” said Karen. “They just kept telling me what equipment I couldn’t get and what insurance wouldn’t pay for. The difference in working with Lance and Numotion was that if my insurance company pushed back on something that they didn’t find necessary, Numotion went to work to justify, based on their knowledge of ALS and working with patients in similar situations, to get me the mobility equipment I needed.”
 
Numotion didn’t tell me I could not have a chair or that they wouldn’t be able to get the chair paid for,” said Karen. “Instead, they put in the time it takes to work with the insurance company to get me what I needed.”
 
Since receiving her new chair, Karen has experienced newfound freedom and independence. She was able to attend grandparent’s day at her grandson’s school, something she would not have been able to do without her chair. “My power chair has allowed me to get out of the recliner I was in and actually move around on my own. It has assisted me with little things like being able to roll myself around to places in my own home that I have not been in months just because I have not thought to ask my family members to take me to that part of the house,” said Karen. “I can go outside now without it being a chore and I am more mobile when I go to events or appointments. I am so happy with my chair!”