How an HME Provider Made a Difference in the Life of Couple Dealing with an Illness

One night, I came home late from work and found my sweet husband, Herb, crawling up our stairs to the bedroom. I was shocked and saddened to the point of tears. He had prostate cancer and was beginning to experience excessive pain due to the metastases to his bones. He said this was the first time he couldn’t walk the stairs. The first thing I did upon arriving at my office the next morning was call my next-door neighbor, Rob Lang, President of Lang Medical DME. I told Rob my story and asked his advice, “What can I do? Can you help me?” Rob sent one of his staff to my home in the next hour to measure my stairs for a chair lift. Before the day was over, Rob’s team had installed two short chair lifts to our second floor that accommodated the turn half way up. That night Herb gleefully rode the lift up halfway and transferred to the next for the end of the trip. He was smiling all the way and having fun for a change. Now he didn’t have to plan his day around one mighty energy surge at the end of the day for going up stairs to bed. Rob also recommended a companion wheelchair I could lift by myself, in and out of the car so going to doctors appointments would be easier for Herb. It was only a few weeks later that he passed away peacefully in our home. Because so many people were coming, I called Rob immediately (of course, it was on the weekend) to please come to take out the chair lift because I didn’t want someone to trip over it as they passed by. Rob immediately sent out team members to dismantle the lift. They left no marks or scratches to remind me of that evening I saw my sweet husband crawling up the stairs. When I saw the article in HomeCare Magazine asking for stories, I thought of my own experience with this wonderful team of professionals. They do things like this day in and day out. They gave my husband back his dignity, and for that I will forever be grateful. Click here to read other finalists for the Story of the Year 2015.