Power wheelchair is a dream come true

Dianna M. Náñez
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 6, 2006 12:00 AM


Our dreams change with time. Unfulfilled wishes for 85-year-old Melvina "Mel" Perchan are now about visiting her Alzheimer's-stricken husband as often as she can.

Terminal cancer makes it impossible for the barely 80-pound woman to walk the distance to the memory-care unit of the couple's Surprise assisted-living residence to see her husband, Tom.

Easing Mel's remaining time drove Michelle Dalessio, Perchan's Odyssey Hospice social worker, to apply to the Dream Foundation in hopes that they would grant her wish of mobility.


The Dream Foundation is an organization that gives final wishes to adults who have been physically, emotionally and financially devastated by terminal illness.

Dalessio took Mel's photo, mailed a request for a power wheelchair and waited to hear if the foundation could help.

On Friday, the Dream Foundation, partnering with the Scooter Store, answered Mel's dream by delivering her a free power wheelchair that would have cost about $5,000 retail.

"Medicare doesn't pay for electric chairs anymore," Dalessio said. "They don't consider it a necessary medical comfort. But she has lived her life with her husband. Being mobile, being able to see him, this gives her life back more than anything else can."

Until June, Mel and Tom lived in a Sun City Grand home next to their daughter, Pat Hottenstein.

"Dad started to wander off," Hottenstein said. "So we had to have a safe place for him and Mom. The move has been hard."

Hottenstein said she feels much better now that she knows that her mother can come and go as she pleases.

"The caretakers are so busy," Hottenstein said. "Mom would have to wait for them or me to take her to Dad."

Steve Wood, Odyssey's chaplain, said Mel worried that she was not able to care for her husband like she could when they lived together.

"She said he still knows her," he said. "He kind of lights up when he sees her. She wants to help her husband. She is very strong and just really deserves this."

Dalessio said she is always surprised by Mel's selflessness.

"When I called to tell her we got the chair, she said, 'Oh, no, I can't take it. Give it to someone who needs it'," she said.

On the day the gift was delivered, sitting in her new wheelchair, Mel said, "I would've had to wait to see him (Tom) until this evening. Now I can go this afternoon."

Mel said she is even considering making trips to the laundry room, now that she can carry her basket on her lap.

To which here daughter replied, "Mom, you don't have to do your own laundry."

Mel turned to her daughter and said, "I know, (but) I can go where I want now."

Hottenstein said she feels less anxious about leaving for an upcoming family wedding.
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http://www.dreamfoundation.org/