Have you seen/experienced a life-altering event that changed your life or made you see life completely differently? That is what happened to me a bit over a year ago when I seen first-hand the devastation and pain that Epidermolysis Bullosa, a genetic skin disorder, brings to families.

When our best friends’ daughter, Aubrey Joy Oberlin, was born with Epidermolysis Bullosa one of the first things I did was search the internet to learn about this disorder. The first story that came across my Google search results was that of a four-year-old boy named Charlie Knuth. Charlie was making news because his insurance was denying him the stem cell transplant that would save his life.

Read article:
Family Fights to Treat Child’s Skin Disease – www.nbc26.com
Thankfully, Medicaid overturned their denial and Charlie was able to get the stem cell transplant that he so desperately needed.
Abandoned at birth, Charlie entered the Knuth’s family home when he was only two-weeks-old and was adopted a year later by this giving family. Charlie’s remarkable progress has prompted the Knuths to adopt another child who suffers from the same severe form of EB, a six-year-old boy named Seth, who has lived in a group home all of his life, and has never had a family to call his own.

The Knuth family will be bringing Seth home at the end of March, but at this time their house doesn’t have a bedroom for him or a medical/dressing room for baths and dressing changes. They are also needing to make their home wheelchair accessible to have Seth live with them and become their son.Just recently they posted a fundraising page created for this effort, and noticed on one of the mother’s updates, Trisha Knuth posted:

Trish Knuth's update

I wanted to help. I learned this past year that awareness has an amazing effect on people. So I read this update and thought, “How could I help this family get that bath tub?” I looked at the link she provided to learn more about these height adjustable tubs. This manufacturer, TR Equipment, is headquartered in Sweden and has offices in four different countries, including the United States. I figured it was a far stretch, but decided that you never get a ‘Yes’ unless you ask in the first place.

So I wrote an email to their head of customer service in the United States. A simple email that explained the Knuth story and asked them if they could help. I didn’t expect a response, but I knew I had to try.

An hour later, my ‘simple’ email was forwarded to their Director of Operations.

And the next evening I received this email:

Email response from Jeffrey Wagner, TR Equipment

What! Really!!???

One simple ask, and two amazing companies decided to donate and transport a $16,000 bathtub to the Knuth family in Wisconsin!

AMAZING. PEOPLE ARE AMAZING!

And all you have to do to find these amazing people, is reach out to them!

Below is the link to the Knuth Family fundraising page. Feel free to learn more, donate and help share Seth’s story with the world. As I learned, even ‘simple’ efforts go a long way!

A Bedroom for Seth — IndieGoGo
Thanks for listening! – Andrea Ness
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