Welcome to Beachview Dreams Foundation...
where the beginning of the boardwalk is the start of Dream Vacations!
Shannon
Shannon is 25. She grew up in West Norriton, PA. She was 14 ½ when she was struck by a car as she was crossing the street and suffered Traumatic Brain Injury, a broken right arm and a shattered right leg below the knee. She wasn’t expected to survive, but survive she did! She is bright and intelligent! She lives at home with her Dad and Mom and she works hard each and every day to get better even though the doctors didn’t have much hope for our girl! Shannon love her iPad, Music (especially the Beatles and My Chemical Romance) being read to, painting and the outdoors! Prior to being hit by the car Shannon LOVED the beach! It was one of her happy places. We look forward to being at the beach as a family for the first time in a long time. We thank Beachview Dream Vacation, Megan and John Bolger and their sponsors for this wonderful and incredible opportunity!
Keanna
Keanna is 19 years old, has Cerebral Palsy, and is wheelchair bound. She doesn't walk or sit up on own but can talk your ear off, lol! She has had several surgeries - some that got complicated and life-threatening but through it all, her loving personality and contagious smile still remained.
She lives at home with her Mom and Dad, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a hamster. Keanna loves to sing, play Super Mario, watch movies, and play on her phone or iPads. Her mom is her caregiver, and as hectic as it might get at times, she wouldn't change that for the world. She is excited as we all are to get this opportunity to have a beach vacation. We Can't Wait!! Thanks again!
Montana
Montana is a 19 year old girl, born with cortical blindness, seizures, hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy, and scoliosis. She is wheelchair bound and non verbal. Montana loves to eat all home cooked meals, her liquids are fed through a tube. She lives with us, her grandparents, Linda and David, her brother Dillion, and her sister Morgan. She now can sit up for a time, on her own, since spine surgery. It's wonderful to see. She does not like loud noises. Nurses care for her 16 hours a day. She goes to school five days a week and loves the bus ride, most of the time you will see Montana with a smile, and her laughing is infectious. She enjoys riding in the van to shop, and going on walks. Montana has brought so much joy into our life, just meeting her will put a smile on any ones face. We are blessed having her. We would like to thank you for this opportunity to have a vacation as a family together. See you in the sun...
Tyler
Tyler had been a special baby from the beginning; very energetic but difficult to soothe. He walked and talked sang his ABC’s before his first birthday. He loved to be outdoors and always liked to “wave” at flags. He ran and climbed every playground and play place at McDonalds within a 50 mile radius of wherever we were.
When Tyler was a little over 2 years old, he started to lose his words and became extremely hyperactive and destructive. At 31 months of age he was diagnosed with MPS III A or Sanfilippo Syndrome. MPS specialists determined that Tyler’s life would be limited to 10 years or less, with rapid degeneration of his skills. We took him home and loved him.
Tyler will be 14 this September, and although we have seen severe decline in his abilities, he is still the light of our lives. Tyler no longer runs or climbs or walks. Tyler can no longer lift himself up to sit or stand. Tyler can no longer talk or even cry. Tyler can’t feed himself or dress himself. He is 100% dependent on us for his care. Tyler can smile though, and he has a great belly laugh! He loves to be sung to, he adores Sesame Street especially Elmo. Tyler loves being with his family and he can still recognize his family and friends through their voices and he can vocalize his interactions. Tyler loves being outside, he loves to hear the trees rustling and the sound of the ocean. He loves to hold hands and he’ll capture your heart when he grabs on to you.
The time we have with Tyler is precious. The more we lose the boy we imagined he’d be, the more we hang onto the boy he is. We adapt to Tyler and his world instead of him adapting to ours. Beach View dreams is allowing us more time for Tyler to be exactly who he’s meant to be, our baby boy.
Sophia & Robert
Robert and Sophia are 3 year old twins, they are the light of their families lives. They both have Cerebral Palsy due to pregnancy complications and have had a very rough road since birth; however their strength amazes everyone they meet. Robert is blind and unable to talk; however he loves people and the beach, Sophia can talk and her favorite place to go is the beach. Our family has never vacationed at the beach before we have only done day trips and when we have the twins happiness leaves our eyes filled with tears and hearts filled with love. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to experience an entire week where Robert and Sophia will be filled with overwhelming joy.
Amyah
Hello Everyone!
Amyah and her family would love to share a little bit about our family. Amyah was born a normal baby, she would run around, sing and dance! When Amyah was 1 and a half years old she suffered a high fever and an uncontrollable seizure while she was sleeping. Our baby had fallen into cardiac arrest. This all happened in Puerto Rico. We decided we wanted Amyah in the United States to have better medical care. We were transferred via Air Ambulance and now she is being seen in one of the best top hospitals in the country. Amyah has done so much better over here and we hope to one day help her up so she can dance again. We never lose hope. Our family is known as a great team! We really appreciate all the love and support from the Beachview team and we are so excited to have a week of some peace and family time. Amyah is excited to wear her new bathing suit! Thank you and I will also share the complete short story available to download in order to help other families cope with being a special needs family.
Here is her link:
Emily
Ten year old Emily Grace suffers from Mitochondrial Disease. Also known as Mito, the disease is progressive with no treatment or a cure. Her body in unable to convert food and oxygen into the energy known as ATP that her cells need to survive. Think of it as having bad batteries throughout your body. While a healthy person's batteries recharge throughout the day, Emily's cannot so they steal the energy from other cells and organs leaving irreversible damage and potentially organ failure. Emily has a list of diagnosis as every system in her little body has been impacted in some way. Her biggest struggles are Gastric Paresis, neurogenic bladder, Mast cell activation disease, Ichthoysis, Dysautonomia, heat intolerance, chronic pain and fatigue, pseudo obstructions, dyslexia,
This year has been a really tough one with more hospitalizations and disease progression. Emily is a social child who just wants to be a kid. Sadly she is restricted to medical homebound with the only exception being frequent stays in the hospital. We have 12 hour daily nursing, in which they help manage Emily’s GJ feeding tube and suprapubic cath. 14 medications and supplements as well as biweekly injections help our girl maintain a baseline but require countless doctors appointments and ongoing bimonthly surgeries that usually result in inpatient stays for recovery. We have good days and bad days living life on a virtual roller coaster of ups and downs. We chose hope, faith and living in the moment. We stay positive and make the most of every day embracing the opportunity to make another happy memory! Thank you for following our journey and supporting our journey through Facebook, The Emily Anderson Foundation.
Emily has good days where she can try her best to just be a kid. These are the days we cherish the most. They are our memory makers! We focus on what can do and not what we can’t! Emily loves the beach and her family but a vacation is not something we have the financial resources to provide. This opportunity will allow our family some much needed quality time and an experience to reflect on as a happy memory, thank you!
Billy
Hi, my name is Billy and I am 16 years old. When I was 2 days old I was diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and hypertonia. HIE is a condition that results from a lack of oxygen to the brain. As a result, I have a seizure disorder, developmental delay and chronic respiratory failure. I also have spastic hypertonia which causes me to have uncontrollable muscle spasms, and stiffening or straightening out of muscles. I have a tracheostomy (breathing tube) and am on a ventilator at all times. I cannot eat anything by mouth and have a feeding tube. I also have muscle contractures and scoliosis. I am unable to move on my own and need a wheelchair to get around.
One of my greatest pleasures in life is going on outings with my family and spending time with my little brother, Ben. I also like to visit the shore and take long walks on the boardwalk and feel the breeze on my face but because I have to stay on the first floor and it is so difficult to transport me it can be difficult to get away. I often have to stay home with one of my parents while the other goes out with Ben.
Getting away to the beach with my family for a week will be such a blessing we can't express our gratitude strongly enough! This will help us relax, heal and stay strong for the coming year. Thank you so much!
Michele
My name is Michele. I am an adult with spina bifida since birth. I am a mother to a wonderful son, Nikolas, who is a freshman in high school. My husband John works the night shift at Lowe’s 40 hours a week. I like to travel but in recent two years I have become sick. We are looking forward to going on vacation in August with my sister Lynda who is a very big part of my life and my family’s life. We hardly get a chance to hang out since we live so far apart.
Jason
Jason has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and is ventilator dependent. Duchenne is a progressive muscle wasting disease which affects all of his muscles. Jason was diagnosed at age 6 and has been wheelchair bound since age 7. Jason is now 28 years old and is the light of our family's life. He is a wonderful, funny, smart optimistic guy despite all of the issues he has to deal with. He is strong and strong willed. He has deepened our family's bonds and helped to strengthen each of our characters. We are looking forward to spending time with him and together as a family at Beachview Dreams. This vacation and worry-free time together is very needed and much anticipated.
Parker
Parker is 5 years old, and enjoys going for rides in his wheelchair, playing ball with his dogs, and his friends at preschool. He lives at home with his parents, his two border collies, and his little brother Jaxen. Parker was born at 25 weeks gestation, weighing a pound and 14 ounces. Traveling and finding accommodations for his wheelchair, ventilator, and other medical equipment can be quite difficult, and this will be his first vacation and his first time at the beach! He and his family are very thankful for the Beachview Dreams Foundation for this opportunity.