Online Campaign Launched to Help Manchester Quadriplegic Purchase a Retrofitted Van

An online campaign has been launched to help a West Hartford native, who has spent more than half of her life as a quadriplegic, purchase a new minivan that can be retrofitted for her to drive and allow her to maintain her independence while keeping her online business solvent.

A GoFundMe account has been set up for Anita Serignese Vieth, who currently lives in Manchester but grew up in West Hartford and graduated from Hall High School in 1974.

Sarah Glynn Peters created the account on behalf of her friend because, as she wrote, “even the strongest of us sometimes need angels to give us wings.”

According to the page, Vieth contracted Guillain-Barre Syndrome in May of 1984 and, in an instant, went from being a “healthy, active 29-year-old mother of a toddler to being totally paralyzed, unable to even breathe unassisted. It was questionable if she would even survive. However, she fought through and spent a year in the hospital. The following three years, with her marriage ending, she relied on the help of her family to take care of her son while she spent countless hours doing physical and occupational therapy and learning new employment skills.”

With those new skills, Vieth began a new career as a full-time computer programmer with a major insurance company and split her work time between home and office. As a result, she was able to purchase a home where she raised her then 6-year-old son as a single mother.

Peters wrote that Vieth “eventually had to leave the corporate world due to continuing health issues, but was able to convert a part-time hobby (begun at age 20) into a successful business buying and selling antiques. With the advent of eBay in the late 1990s, she opened Cousins Antiques online.”

But several months ago, Vieth’s 10-year-old minivan broke down and the needed repairs are not cost-effective and she will need to purchase a new van.

Peters wrote that the Connecticut Bureau of Rehabilitation Services will cover the cost of retrofitting, but Vieth has to purchase the new van, which is expected to cost around $35,000.

“Since the recent economic downturn has reduced her income by half and she is currently living off of her Social Security, Anita cannot afford the monthly payments on a new van, so she needs to make as large a down payment as possible…. so we are hoping to raise as much of that as possible to keep her monthly payments low.”

Read more at the GoFundMe page here.