Max Gaudenzi would like your help

Max Gaudenzi in his bedroom in Beverly, MA. Max is trying to raise $25,000 to get a new bed. Photo by Bill Brett

 

BEVERLY — Max Gaudenzi‘s request is a simple one. He needs our help to get a new bed.

A 21-year-old, self-described New England Patriots superfan, Max is making an appeal to raise money to get a bed that helps him sleep through the night without needed the help of his parents — or anyone else.

Max has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a “disease that has slowly taken away my ability walk, feed myself, dress myself, and turn myself in bed,” he wrote on his fundraising page. There is no cure for Duchenne, but there are promising new treatments on the horizon, Max notes.

Christine McSherry and the Jett Foundation’s Giving Fund are working together to get Max that new bed. “I go to Middlesex Community College and I live with my mom, my dad, and my dog named Horse,” Max wrote. “In my free time, I like watching Boston sports and playing video games.”

The bed costs $50,000 of which Max needs to raise $25,000.
We’ll let Max explain the importance of this bed: “While my house has been adapted to fit most of my needs, one of the biggest burdens of my disease is my inability to turn myself in bed during the night. Three or four times a night, I have to call my mom or my dad into my bedroom so they can turn and adjust me in bed so I can sleep. It disrupts both their sleep and mine, and my school work suffers due to my inability to get a solid night sleep. A rotation medical bed could change that. This type of bed continuously turns someone like me, who can’t turn themselves, throughout the night. A bed like this would let my parents and I get a better night sleep, and prevent health problems that come with being unable to move oneself in bed.”

The steep $50,000 price tag is why your help is needed. “The rotating bed I need costs $50,000, an amount that my family and I could not possibly afford, and my health insurance company will not help cover the cost. That is why I am raising funds for the Jett Giving Fund, a program run by Jett Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to Duchenne muscular dystrophy, that is designed to help families like mine afford adaptive and medical equipment equipment like the rotation medical bed that I need,” Max wrote. Once he raises $25,000, the Jett Giving Fund will match that and get Max the new bed.

Donating is easy (fast and secure) through Max’s page on the Jett Foundation’s website. Click on this link: https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/NatalieGaudenzi/RotationMedicalBedForMax

 

— Bill Brett and Carol Beggy

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