Amy Van Dyken has started a foundation, she says, "to give necessary medical equipment to people with spinal cord injuries that cannot afford it through their own means or through insurance."
Amy told Dateline, "What a lot of people don't understand is once you become a paraplegic or a quadriplegic-- things change, your body changes. Let me tell you, I am paralyzed from my bellybutton down, think of every single organ that is below the belly button, it does not work.
So in order to use the ladies room-- I have to have a shower chair. And I back on up and I-- I do what I need to do, and then I'm able to also take that chair and go and take a shower. Some people have chairs that just sit over the toilet seat and then sit in the shower. But this is a huge part of being paralyzed, because I can't stand up to take a shower.
I can't take my wheelchair in there because it will get wet, my cushion will get wet, it'll a disaster. You need something else. And the thing is that a lotta people don't understand is, it's an expensive piece of m-- I guess machinery. It's $3,500 and insurance paid for nothing. So that's where Amy's Army comes in, and that's where I really hope to change the world.
And I would really like to help change insurance so that they understand that these pieces of equipment, it's not a luxury to take a shower or to use the restroom."
For more information about Amy's foundation, you can visit amyvandyken.org.
