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Community helps build home for disabled triplets
The Record, Friday, November 23, 2007
By JAMES YOO
STAFF WRITER
BLOOMINGDALE -- Sometimes it does indeed take a villag to raise a child -- especially so when it's disabled triplets who need a special home.
This year, scores of businesses, families and individuals stepped forward to help build a house tailor-made for three boys with multiple disabilities.
"Without the community, forget it," said their dad, a tired Michael Moeller. "They helped out tremendously."
Moeller had spent the last few days moving in furniture and unpacking boxes stuffed with clothing and toys. Moeller, who's a 34-year-old Butler cop, had spent the summer and fall building the house with a small army of volunteers.
The family moved into its new home this week after spending seven months at a relative's place. The one-story home has ramps, wider hallways, electric outlets 22 inches off the ground and light switches just a few inches above the outlets. There's also no carpet, only hardwood floors or tiles, which makes it easier for wheelchairs to move. The boys' bathroom also has handrails and enough room to move a wheelchair into the shower.
HOW TO HELP
More importantly for Matthew, Tyler and Zakary, their rooms have been painted the colors of their favorite "Sesame Street" characters: purple, red and orange.
The triplets have cerebral palsy and periventricular leukomalacia. Matthew walks and romps through the house, but his brothers can only watch from the arms of their parents or a wheelchair. PVL is a medical condition that can lead to cerebral palsy and is associated with difficulties in mental development that can affect motor movements, according to the National Institute of Health. It is more common in premature babies.
For their disabilities, the 3-year-old boys undergo a number of therapies paid out of pocket or with donations from friends and well-wishers. The Moellers are embroiled in a dispute with their insurance company that stopped paying for some of the therapies last December.
Costs run about $84,000 annually for physical, occupational, and speech therapies along with alternative procedures meant to help the three walk, sit up and run.
"Mike and I are physically and emotionally drained but are so thankful to everyone who continually supports our family," said the boys' mother, 30-year-old Dawn Moeller.
That support translated into windows, roof shingles and site work for their new home. The site work alone would have cost about $20,000. Other benefactors donated household appliances such as an oven while contractors donated their services and laid tiles or built the backyard stone patio.
One of those who helped was Chris Finelli, Michael's high school friend. He and three others spearheaded an effort to get the family a new home last year. They tried to enlist a popular television show that had helped a Bergenfield family last year.
"Our letter-writing campaign collected 18,000 signatures, but it didn't happen," he said. "So we took it into our own hands."
The family sold its former two-story home in April and bought the vacant land later that month. Ground was broken in July and work continued throughout the summer and fall.
On Wednesday night, Dawn Moeller's preparing the family's first meal in the new home: pasta with tomato sauce, bread rolls and pizza.
She described it as "exciting" and "overwhelming" to have finally moved in. "[But] it hasn't hit me yet," she said. "Maybe [it will] in a couple of days when we're more settled in."
Staff Writers Merve Fejzula and Patrick Tuohey contributed to this article. E-mail: yoo@northjersey.com.
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