Displayed on screen: Oklahoma Department of Human Services Logo
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Text on screen: Helping Real People, Real Families
Text on screen: Since 2009, 25 year old Zachary Henderson has volunteered as an assistant basketball coach at Sapulpa High School, where he graduated.
Text on screen: A lover of sports, he hopes to help younger kids realize that no matter how hard things are, you can keep going.
Text on screen: Zachary Henderson Advantage Program Recipient
ZACHARY H:  I was born with a disease called degenerative muscular dystrophy and it makes all my muscles very weak and over time it gets worse.
So to start out with I could walk and about twelve years old was when I couldn’t walk anymore because I started falling and my muscles just started getting really weak.
Text on screen: Shelly Henderson, Zachary’s Mother
SHELLY H:  This disease is a slower progression so he’s been, played baseball when he was little and moved into basketball and then he was about twelve years old he could no longer walk or run so he’s been in a wheelchair ever since then but he was in the band.
He showed animals in FFA, I mean we’ve just moved from one thing to another with him.
So we were doing okay even when he graduated high school.
He still had some ability in his arms and his upper body so he could be home and he could be here for a couple of hours by himself and still able to get out if he needed to but as things have progressed he stopped being able to lift his arms or really take care of himself and one day he was here by himself and someone broke into our house and was alone and scared he was calling 911 and the people are breaking into our garage.
They were one door away from getting in the house.
That was a very big eye opener and very scary for us because he felt helpless, we felt helpless, and that was when we decided he can’t be here by himself anymore.
So we started doing some research and ended up on the DHS website and saw the Advantage Program and although it really was worded more towards seniors and senior living, all of the eligibility is what we were dealing with and what we had in front of us and so we just started digging deeper and found the CD Path Program and just put our application in and just to see if he qualified for that and he did.
So it was a huge relief and an answer to what we needed.
Text on screen: Ty Lewis, Caregiver
TY L:  Me and Zack we go way back.
We were best friends, we grew up as little kids together.
We kind of separated in elementary and middle school.
ZACH H: We kind of caught back up at high school and just from there man he’s pretty much like my brother.
TY L:  How I came to work with him, it just kind of fell in place.
After high school I went off to Stillwater for college and started working on my EMT and my firefighting  stuff and I actually got hired on at the Tulsa Fire Department and so when I moved back here everything just kind of fell they don’t make a whole lot of money so we’re always kind of looking for that supplemental income on a part time deal.
SHELLY H: It was just perfect timing.
We said, hey, we could really use your assistance here with Zack and of course, he jumped on that and loved it and so Ty comes in on his days off and he takes Zack to practice and to the gym and he helps him with lunch.
He enjoys Ty being here.
On screen: Zach existing the cab of a pickup truck in an attached wheelchair lift
ZACH H:  Allowing me to get out and about for myself and being able to hire who I want, it makes it nice and being able to get out and do what I want to do away from my parents and kind of get independence.
SHELLY H:  CD Pass us to hire who we want to hire have who we want to have in our home.
It’s a relief to me.
I know that we have somebody here who’s taking care of Zack.
He is not here by himself.
My husband and I both have to work, not only for income but insurance, and I was driving home at lunch every day to take care of Zack and then going back to work and driving back and anytime he called
I would have to leave work, so it was a struggle and having this program where we can hire somebody to help us it’s been a life saver for us.
ZACH H:  I go to practice, have somebody take me to practice.
We go to the mall, go to movies and it kind of makes me feel like a normal kid.
SHELLY H:  You know, even going to this being a basketball coach, he doesn’t get paid for it, but it’s something he loves to do.
It gets him out of bed every day.
It gives him a purpose, it gives him a goal.
Here is what I’m doing today.
He helps people.
I’ve seen him sit and talk with these basketball kids.
He will pull them on the side and say, you know, don’t get down, keep trying, or if you will do it this way you’ll get a better shot and they will listen to him.
ZACH H:  I love getting to see the kids learn, like when they don’t know what to do and you explain to them do it this way, it’ll work and then do that and they finally do and they realize, okay, I don’t know everything, somebody can teach me stuff.
These kids try so hard to try to get to one goal and play as a team.
TY L:  Just to see him being out there on the court and helping coach these kids, you know, it really inspires me and wants me to be here even more.
SHELLY H:  These programs are helping real people, real families who need this.
It has helped our family tremendously.
It has helped Zack tremendously to continue to do what he loves to do.
TY L:  I truly think this program helps him, helps the family, helps me and it helps everybody around him and I believe that we all benefit from it.
On screen: Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Aging Services