Donations for Cole's Cause can be made by sending a check made out to The Cole Rapini Fund to the following address.

Rapini Family
PO Box 34
Springfield, VT 05156

All the money donated goes directly to Cole for equipment and procedures not covered by Inusrance and of course to Coles Bucket List!We greatly appreciate your help!

We thought that we would show you some of the things that the money donated has helped us provide Cole!




 

His Glasses!!! Both our insurance companies do not cover vision...why we have no idea! So we have to pay $200 per eye exam and another $200 to get Cole these great glasses so he can finally see the world!


Although Cole outgrew the normal baby swings, chairs and bouncers around the same age as most kids he still needed the support that they provided as he is not able to sit up unassisted. The Tumble Forms Tad Pole gave us multiple positioning options by giving us equipment that allowed us to safely put Cole in the sitting position, lying on his side and on his belly. It was so much better for him and us as he had begun to wiggle so much that it wasn't unusually to find him hanging out the side of the swing with his head stuck in the bars:( Of course insurance doesn't think this is necessary either so we had to foot the $1,000.00 bill.


Just like with the swings Cole also outgrew his baby bath tubs and again didn't have the strength to make the normal "up grades" so we purchased the cheapest bath chair we could find at $150.

We also had to invest in a new stoller. One that would grow well with Cole as he got bigger. It had to be light weight and offer lots of support for Cole. We found this one which was actually a bargain at $350.


This peice of equipment will be very helpful once Cole has the proper head and neck strength/control. The bottom peice is actually a harness that Cole will be suspended from. It will put him in the crawling position without requiring him to bear weight. It is on wheels and has handles so that he can be pushed around in it allowing him to make the connection that this new position allows him to get around by himself. It was $530.








One of the most expensive and more important things that we have used the money for was when Chris and I attended the What to do about your brain injured child course at The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. We spent the week in lectures with other parents learning how to help teach our children. The information we gained there was invaluable and using their techniques we were able to get Cole rolling. This is some of the equipment we learned about there, the floor is and walls are to help strengthen his vision, the patterning table is to teach him the crawling motions and the slide is at an incline so that when Cole is placed on it and he pushes or moves he will slide down a little (closer to Mommy or Daddy or whoever else is encouraging him at the bottom it again teaches him that he has the ability to get himself to the thing he desires! The grand total of the course for the two of us, the gas to get to Philadelphia and back, accomadations while we were there and the supplies to make this stuff at home was about $5,000. HOWEVER the day we saw Cole bear weight on his arms and roll over....well those were priceless!


Ability switches come in all different shapes and sizes and with all different purposes. Right now for Cole they are meant to teach cause and effect. If he hits the yellow button than the police car will drive around with its siren blaring and its lights flashing. Switches start at about $45.00 and increase in price depending on factors like how sensitive you want the switch to be (this one is very sensitive so that there is a better chance Cole will get a reaction) you can also get ones that vibrate so that the person using the switch gets sensory stimulation. They have ones that are shaped like joysticks so that you can swing your arm and hit them. You can use the switch with multiple toys that start again at around $45.oo. Down the road the switches can be used for more functional things like turning light switches on and off.

We have also been able to get him an awesome outside swing (which we will post pictures of soon) as well as many other toys focused on stimulating various senses. Plus we are able to pay the copays and bills of Doctors visit that are not covered by insurance such as audiology.

We cannot thank you all enough for your kindness, support and generous donations. We would not be able to provide Cole with the tools he needs in order to reach his potential without you!