Linda came to East 99th Street after having endured huge setbacks. She had moved to North Carolina in 2005 to recuperate from health issues caused by living in the city that exacerbated her Multiple Sclerosis. “I had two jobs!” she says. “I was off the canes, I was off the walkers, I was off everything, and I was doing great, and I had just gotten a home and a brand new car. And then a tree fell on the house, and I lost everything and had to come back to New York.”
When she returned to New York, her MS worsened. “I was chronically ill,” she remembers. “I wound up going to the hospital like five times.”
While at the hospital, she was introduced to a new housing development for people with disabilities located at 99th Street in Manhattan. “They signed me up for this housing project. It hadn’t even been built yet… I’ve come to like it very much. I like this building because I’ve met a lot of people with MS, and a lot of people with different conditions, and we sort of get along like family here. So the environment is wholesome…”
Living here has also enabled Linda to continue the active lifestyle that she was accustomed to. “I don’t have family and health people to take care of me; matter of fact,” she says, “I help others. I work with people, trying to help them get wheelchairs and medical supplies, or whatever their needs are. I visit the sick in the hospitals, and things like this. I’m a chaplain, and I run around everywhere. I’m just an active person.”
After her wheelchair broke and her insurance refused to pay for a new one, Wheeling Forward was able to provide Linda with a much-needed wheelchair so that she could continue helping others and performing her duties as a chaplain. Of Wheeling Forward, Linda says, “meeting Alex was another plateau, I believe – he’s doing wonderful work, and I told him about what I do, and so I’m hoping that we’ll be able to coordinate some things together and work together in some areas helping the people as we can.”
Linda still struggles with her disability, but maintains an inspiring and positive outlook on life. “You never know when you’re going to wake up one of those mornings and you just can’t move!” she says. “You could be walking one day, and tomorrow you have absolutely no muscle control… So you just pray for the best and when you are up you do all that you can, and do all you can, because you never know what tomorrow may bring.”
