Making A Difference: A Wheelchair Accessible Van for Joanna Goins

October 10, 2017, Joanna Goins was born on with a rare genetic condition called, “FOXG1 Syndrome.” This affected her brain development before she was born. Joanna is developmentally delayed both physically and intellectually. She also has epilepsy and is nonverbal and does not walk or sit unassisted. Through physical and occupational therapy, she works on developing those gross and fine motor skills and is making progress, but on her own timeline! She also needs help eating and communicating, and she works on these things through her multiple speech therapies.

Joanna’s family loves to take her places, and she loves to be out and about as well! She has a lot of specialist doctor appointments and weekly therapy appointments. She also plans to start preschool in Fall 2022 and she is going to love going to school with other children her age! Because of her unique needs regarding transportation, Joanna’s family is saving money to buy a wheelchair accessible van for her. This will make it so much easier on her mom and dad, Baron and Laura, to transport her. Her big brother Tyson and big sister Natalie love to help out with Joanna, but aren’t yet big enough to help get her in and out of their “regular” van now, but they would be able to help out so much with a wheelchair accessible van!