Owen Weaver, a Marimor student from Bluffton, needs your help. A vote in his behalf might go a long way.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OWEN'S VOTING SITE.

Owen’s parents, Chad and Melissa Weaver,  are trying to obtain a wheelchair van. As part of Mobility Awareness Month, three such vans will be given away. Owen’s parents have a chance to win one of the three because Owen was selected to participate in the van project.

The Icon asked Owen’s mother to explain the project and how you can help. Here’s the explanation in her words:

“We have been trying to get funding for a wheelchair van and I applied him for Mobility Awareness Month. They are giving three vans away and Owen was selected to participate.

We are looking for community support to go online to www.mobilityawarenessmonth.com and vote for Owen. He had been through a lot and it would mean the world to
us to have Bluffton stand behind him.”

The Icon lifted Owen’s story from the Mobility Awareness Month website. Here it is:

Owen is a sweet, loving, and happy 5-year-old boy. Owen contracted Pneumoccocal Meningitis, an extremely deadly form of Bacterial Meningitis, at 8-weeks old. As a result of that infection Owen has severe brain damage causing many developmental disabilities and medical conditions requiring constant care.

Included in these disabilities are Blindness, Seizure Disorder, Cerebral Palsy and Panhypopituitarism, which includes Diabetes Insipidus, Growth Hormone Deficiency and Cortisol Deficiency.

Because of these conditions, Owen is unable to stand, crawl or walk; which has left him completely dependent on his parents for all of his needs, including loading him into a special needs car seat in a van and then loading his wheel chair into the van.

Owen is now on a growth hormone injection as well as 10 other medications he takes twice a day to treat his medical conditions. Since he has begun taking the injections, he has grown 6 inches and gained 10 pounds within a year.

He now weighs 52 pounds and is almost 4 feet tall. His wheel chair weighs 72 pounds. A wheel chair accessible van would make his transportation needs easier and safer on him and his parents.

Owen has three brothers making our family on the go and busy, and we would like to continue to include him in all of our family activities. Owen’s father is a firefighter and is also a part-time EMT. He can be gone for lengthy periods of time leaving his care up to his mother during these times and it is becoming more and more difficult to transport him from place to place, such as school, occupational, physical, and speech therapy, and to his many medical appointments with his specialists.

Owen has changed our lives in ways we never could have imagined. Our love for him grows deeper everyday. All who has ever had the joy of meeting Owen has had their hearts touched by his amazingly happy personality and he has an incredible smile that you will instantly fall in love with.

Please vote for Owen to make his transportation needs easier and safer.
Sincerely Chad and Melissa Weaver,
Owen’s loving parents