Martha had been a Hospital Nurse all her working life, she was always completely dedicated to her profession and she was forever happy to care for people who needed care. Over the years she rose through the ranks to a senior position where she was able to instruct others to treat people with the care that she herself would give.
Martha's husband George, her lifelong soulmate, at the age of fifty five was diagnosed with a terminal disease. She was completely distraught at this and instantly gave up her nursing position to care for her own loved one. She did everything humanly possible to make George's final months as comfortable as she could and she bought a motorised wheelchair and a van to take her beloved husband to places that he wanted see before he died. It was only a few short months and George did succumb to this delibitating disease. Martha had no children or any close relatives and apart from a few friends, she was all alone in the world and very unhappy.
Six months of grieving followed, Martha would mope about each day, not doing much, apart from tending the garden that George loved so much. At night she would lie awake for hours just reminiscing the good, happy times.
After the six months she didn't stop grieving, and she knew that she never would, but she also had finally regained the will to go on with life on her own.
Martha had time on her hands and she spent hours sitting under the oak tree in the garden, and thinking things through. One day she finally realized that she had mapped out in her mind exactly what she wanted to do with her life. From that moment on her life changed completely and she embarked on this "new" life, and she was happy again.
George and Martha had never spent money unnecessarily and they had saved a large part of their income and invested it wisely. Now Martha had a small fortune at her disposal, she did not wish to spend any of it on herself, she couldn't see any pleasure in that, and she had decided to use some of the money to help those that needed help now and to donate a legacy for the continuity of her intended scheme.
All those months ago when she was caring for George, Martha had met a group of volunteers, who she admired tremendously, who cared for wheelchair bound people. She went to visit this group and told them of her plans, they were highly enthusiastic with her plans.
When Martha purchased the van and wheelchair for George she had it customized to have a strong, safe pair of tracked wheelchair ramps that folded for storage, and a facility in the van to tie down the wheelchair with a person in it. The van had side windows so that the wheelchair occupant could see out. Now she wanted to re-design the van with facilities to load and secure two wheelchairs. Also, something that she had seen on the back of an SUV, she wanted a "scooter carrier" that mounted on the towing hitch and had it's own ramp for loading.
With the modifications done to the van Martha was up and running, she could now do what she most wanted. She would take three at a time disabled people on trips to various destinations of their choosing. They could come with their own wheelchair or scooter or they could use Marthas'. They would be able to disembark at the chosen destination and then go in a little convoy to explore their new pastures. She knew from the volunteers that disabled people wanted to go further afield, they wanted to go beyond their very limited distance from home. Of course the volunteers would come on some of these trips to care for their people.
Martha knew this idea would be popular and her plans included setting up a charity to provide many more of these wheelchair carrying vehicles, each with it's own qualified nurse in case of emergencies. She would fund the setting up of this charity but her money would not last indefinitely and she wanted the charity to raise private donations to keep things going long after she was gone to be with George.
Martha will always be remembered with affection as a very caring angel.
Wheelchair Ramps and Scooter Carriers are available here at discount prices.
This article was first published on Wednesday 17 June, 2009.
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