FOUNTAIN, COLO. -- Lily Mathis' story is slowly spreading on the web, and dozens have already reached out to help, but this southern Colorado family is still far from being able to purchase a crucial piece of equipment for their special needs daughter.
Lily was born a happy healthy baby girl, but at 4 months old Lily got sick with viral meningitis.
"She's a triplet. They were all full-term super healthy babies, and then they all just got a cold, and hers for whatever reason turned into a brain infection which caused seizures, which caused a massive lack of oxygen," Kathyrn Mathis, Lily's mother, said.
Lily suffered global brain damage which led to quadriplegic cerebral palsy, epilepsy, vision impairment and other health issues.
"She can't eat normally. She has to get all of her food through an IV, and she can't walk or move, so she's in a wheelchair," Jeremy Mathis, Lily's father, said.
Though she can't communicate verbally, Lily has no trouble showing off her personality.
"She's extremely happy, loves everybody, loves being around people. Very opinionated, very sassy," Kathryn said.
Lily also suffers from severe osteoporosis and her bones are extremely fragile.
"The one time that we left her with trained people that are for kids with similar disabilities they broke her leg. And it was no fault of their own, it was because she has such severe osteoporosis and so many issues that you know it just snapped," Kathryn said.
Lily's wheelchair has been specially designed to keep her comfortable and safe.
But her family doesn't have a wheelchair van, forcing them to place her in her car seat for their long trips to Denver for treatment.
"Usually by the time we get to the hospital she's writhing in pain, and we have to give her some medication for that," Jeremy said.
The family is trying to raise funds to purchase a wheelchair van, a daunting task, with a starting price at around $40,000.
"The issue with us is not only do we need the wheelchair van, we need one that will fit our entire family of seven," Jeremy said. "Getting one of those would enable us to essentially just wheel her up into the van without having to pick her up, which increases the risk of further injury to her bones and also the additional pain would subside."
With help from the community and complete strangers the Mathis family has already raised around $7,000.
They said the support has been overwhelming.
"She currently has 201 people that have funded on indiegogo, and we don't know half of those people. They're just people who have read Lily's story," Jeremy said.
The family, still a long way off from their goal, said they're not giving up, and neither is Lily.
"We know that she's not going to be alive forever, and so we really just want to make her time here as happy and as pain-free and as wonderful as we possibly can," Kathryn said.
Lily was given five years to live, and next month she'll turn six.
Jeremy said Lily has continued to shock them and doctors by surpassing all of their expectations.
"We're optimistic that she's gonna keep doing that. She never ceases to stop surprising us," he said.
To donate to the Mathis family click here.
The Mathis said even if a financial contribution isn't possible just sharing Lily's story will mean a lot.
Like Lily's Facebook page here
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