20 years ago during my High School drama class rehearsal I was accidently shot causing me to live the rest of my life as a ventilator quadriplegic. I lived with my father for the first 14 years after my injury. Although I am indebted to my father for those years, I no longer I wanted him to give up his life for me, so I moved out from underneath my father’s care to a nursing home. Within a few weeks of that transition my life changed forever. The visiting physician, Dr Robertson (The Medical Director at New Start) met me and suggested I call Mary Williams at New Start.

I was born with Muscular Dystrophy. I think I’m almost the last of all my childhood Hospital friends still living. Well as you can imagine my life has been one of many struggles. One of the greatest things in my life is that I am blessed with a supportive and loving family. However, as my disease progressed I became completely paralyzed and dependent on a ventilator to breath and my family could no longer care for me at home. For the next 2 years I lived in a nursing home wanting to die everyday.

On February 23, 2008, I was a victim of a very serious automobile accident that left me ventilator dependent and paralyzed from the neck down. It wasn’t long after my initial hospitalization stay that my case worker was planning where I was going to be discharged. My mother and my Aunt, who would have taken [...]

I was injured 17 years ago. At the time my daughter was 4 years old, I was scared and I didn’t know how I was going to care for my daughter. I had no support from my husband and no real hope until Mary Williams walked into my hospital room one day. Today, 15 years later I can say that my life is more than I could ever imagine it to be. I’m healthy, I own my own home and my daughter is a happy, successful 21 year old college student. I am currently doing my internship program at New Start and will soon be earning my degree in Social Science from Cal State University, Northridge.

In September of 2008, my wife Diane and I were visiting my daughter and her family in San Diego. The last thing I remembered before waking up in the hospital is hitting the water in my daughter’s backyard pool. After several months in the hospital my condition was still very fragile, and when I was told that my insurance funding was running thin so we had to begin looking at a discharge plan. The options for discharge were few. My Case Worker at the hospital remembered about The New Start Homes Program in LA and had my wife Diane contact Mary Williams.