Even though multiple sclerosis has left Susan Papp quadriplegic and dependent on caregivers, it hasn’t robbed her of a positive attitude and an ever-present smile.
“She can’t get out of bed until her caregivers arrive; she can’t even push the joystick that makes her wheelchair go,” says Andrea Levy Kleeman, director of the Colorado chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s independent-living program.
“But we’ve never once heard her complain,” Kleeman said.
Papp might say that’s because Kleeman and the chapter have done so much to ease her life.
Papp contacted the chapter soon after she moved to Aurora from West Virginia. She had missed an appointment to renew her Medicaid coverage, and it had been cut off.
“We got her back on Medicaid within a week,” Kleeman said. “We also advocated for her to get a higher level of skilled care.”
The Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Colorado chapter is one of the agencies applying for funding through the Post-News Season to Share campaign.
The chapter plans to use any money it receives to fund services in its Independent Living Empowerment Advocacy Program.
Those services include emergency assistance for rent, utility bills and appliances; professional home care; rehabilitation services; and education and support programs.
Colorado has one of the highest rates of MS in the nation – an estimated one in 580 people have the chronic, often-disabling disease, which has no known cause or cure.
The Colorado chapter of the NMSS, established in 1959, operates on a $4.7 million budget and serves 7,900 clients – a number that continues to grow.
“We only have so much money, but we’re good at stretching it through collaborations,” Kleeman says. “We try not to turn anyone away.”
Acting as a patient advocate is one of the most important services the chapter provides, Kleeman says.
“It’s important for families to know they can’t do it all,” she says.
Another client is a single mom in her late 30s with four sons. The disease has progressed to the point where she is unable to work, cook, write or stand without help.
When she contacted the chapter, she had no medical insurance or doctor and her car needed repair.
Kleeman said the chapter helped her with Medicaid, long-term care, transportation and therapy. The chapter’s board of directors bought Christmas presents for her sons.
“This is a bright, positive woman, (a) college graduate who was confused and frustrated by the bureaucracy,” Kleeman said. “Medicaid kept turning her down on technicalities that weren’t true, and so we stepped in and helped get things under control.”
Staff writer Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
How to donate
Post-News Season to Share, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, gave more than $1.65 million to 63 agencies serving children, the hungry, the homeless and those in need of medical care last year. Donations are matched at 50 cents for each dollar, and 100 percent of all donations go directly to local charitable agencies. To make a donation, see the coupon on Page 3B of today’s paper, call 800-508-2928 or visit www.seasontoshare.com.
