Lee’s Summit, Mo. — In a split second, a Lee’s Summit man’s life changed forever. He fell off a ladder and is now paralyzed from the waist down.
Now, friends neighbors and even strangers are coming together to help his family. David King says it’s all a bit hard for him to accept, since he’s usually the one helping others, not receiving help.
King was on a ladder helping a family member with house work, when he had a seizure and fell. He used to have frequent seizures, but thanks to new medicine he hadn’t had a seizure in a while. When he woke up from this seizure, he couldn’t move his legs. King had a T-12 spinal injury. The King family’s new normal is a hospital bed in the living room, rehabilitation three times a day, and a long list of pills. It’s been hard but they’re not giving up.
“My focus now is to get up and get out of the wheelchair,” King says.
His wife Susan shares his belief.
“Because we’re not going to give up hope that maybe he’ll walk again,” she says.
David and Susan have discovered that some state of the art rehabilitation could fulfill that dream to walk again. But it’s very expensive and not covered by medicaid.
That’s why the VFW (where David used to work, and Susan is a Ladies Auxiliary member) and other friends and neighbors have all pitched in to throw the King family an all day fundraiser. They’re hoping to raise enough money to cover the King family’s rent for a year.
“So they’re focus won’t be on a roof over their head but rehabilitation,” says Ken Davis, with the VFW.
The Kings can’t believe how many people are stepping up to help, and David says someday he wants to be able to walk up to them to thank them.
“I can’t give up hope and I won’t,” he says.
Fundraiser for David King and family:
Saturday, Feb. 18 at the VFW Post, 329 S.E. Douglas, downtown Lee’s Summit
Breakfast and bake sale from 8am til 11 am — $6 donation
Silent auction and hotdogs and hamburgers at 2 pm
Dinner and entrance to evening entertainment — $15 (Entertainment includes Country Rick and the Barnyard Playboys from 3 to 5:30 pm and Saddle Brook from 7 to 10 pm
Donations can be sent to the David King Fund at Bank of Lee’s Summit in Lee’s Summit, Mo.
