Therapies, equipment, and treatments that disabled people need in order to live their lives and thrive are EXTREMELY expensive and oftentimes not covered by insurance. One round of intensive therapy alone costs upwards of 10 thousand dollars... and adaptive equipment is also outrageous. For example, we just purchased an accessible stroller because Everett's wheelchair is not supportive or comfortable enough for him to be in for longer outings or appointments or when he is tired. That stroller alone costs one thousand dollars. Sadly, that is considered "inexpensive" for an adaptive mobility device. Some that we were looking at cost 8 thousand dollars or MORE! Insanity. We attempted to get insurance coverage for an adaptive stroller but it got denied because he already has a wheelchair and insurance only approves one device every FIVE years. Think about how much kids grow and change in that amount of time. To insurance they see a set of wheels (and the money) and don't see the person or understand the many purposes for each type of device. Additionally, we hope to do stem cell therapy which can be extremely beneficial, but again is not covered by insurance and costs 15 thousand dollars (not including travel expenses or any of the out of pocket costs for testing/ lab work beforehand).

I don't share all of this to complain, I just hope to bring awareness to what it's really like for people. As parents, all we want to do is provide the best for our children so that they can thrive and live their best lives. I wish we didn't have to fundraise to give Everett basic things that he (and all disabled people for that matter) deserves, but here we are. We appreciate every single persons support whether it's purchasing, donating, sharing, it all helps. We are so appreciative from the bottom of our hearts and we hope you love the mug and shirt designs as much as we do :) <3