Max
12-11-2002, 10:54 AM
Under construction: New hope
LAURA M. SCHNEIDER, Morning Journal Writer December 11, 2002
Family friend Sandy Browning sought help and found it for Sherry Thuy, 23, who was injured in a car accident. (DAVID RICHARD)
LORAIN -- An accident may have put 23-year-old Sherry Thuy in the hospital with a spinal cord injury that paralyzed her legs, but she will be coming home tomorrow because a few caring people pitched in to build a wheelchair ramp at her home.
While driving to work early in November, Thuy lost control of her car when she suffered an epileptic seizure, said her mother, Laura Marker.
The crash injured her spinal cord so severely that doctors told Marker her daughter might never walk again.
''I accepted it right away,'' said Thuy by phone from MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where she is recovering. ''I didn't put my head down and cry. I never said, ÔI'm never going to walk again.' If you want to do something, you can do it.''
Thuy said she began her physical therapy one week after the accident.
After more than a month in the hospital, she was doing three hours of physical therapy every day and has regained some feeling, her mother said.
One thing she couldn't do was come home because her mother's house needed to be equipped with a wheelchair ramp and Marker, who is unemployed, couldn't afford to have one built.
However, with the help of a friend and a few strangers, a ramp was constructed at Marker's house and it will ultimately help bring Thuy home.
''I feel really good to be able to come home soon,'' Thuy said. ''I love to be independent.''
Sandy Browning of Sheffield Lake, who is Marker's friend, said she thought she could find a county agency to build the ramp.
''I knew she needed the ramp,'' said Browning. ''I assumed there'd be agencies to help with this kind of thing.''
However, Browning kept hitting dead ends.
Then she tried Carter's Lumber in Sheffield where manager Bonny Hiltan said she would help with the supplies.
''I felt horrible for her, and Sandy was just so determined to help Laura and Sherry,'' said Hiltan.
Next, Browning needed a contractor, but she said random calls to contractors in the phone book led nowhere.
''The standard answer was they don't do small jobs or they weren't interested,'' she said.
Enter Bill DiFucci, who works with Cassell Construction. He said he took on the job at no cost because he said he hoped someone would have done the same thing for him.
''This is probably my only project I hope they get to tear down someday,'' said DiFucci.
Three family friends also volunteered to help out during the two-day project last weekend.
''It's wonderful, it makes everything else seem minor,'' said Marker, who said her daughter might have had to go to an assisted living facility without the donated ramp.
''It meant the world to be able to do it. Just that she can be with her family, that's going to be key to her recovery -- to be with her family and friends,'' said Hiltan.
Thuy said she is grateful for the support of her family and friends, who come to visit her daily in the hospital.
''I appreciate everyone praying for me. I pray every day. I think that's why I'm doing so well. God has good plans for me, that's why I'm still alive,'' she said. ''One day I'll be running down that ramp.''
©The Morning Journal 2002
http://www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1699&dept_id=46371&newsid=6347401&PAG=461&rfi=9
LAURA M. SCHNEIDER, Morning Journal Writer December 11, 2002
Family friend Sandy Browning sought help and found it for Sherry Thuy, 23, who was injured in a car accident. (DAVID RICHARD)
LORAIN -- An accident may have put 23-year-old Sherry Thuy in the hospital with a spinal cord injury that paralyzed her legs, but she will be coming home tomorrow because a few caring people pitched in to build a wheelchair ramp at her home.
While driving to work early in November, Thuy lost control of her car when she suffered an epileptic seizure, said her mother, Laura Marker.
The crash injured her spinal cord so severely that doctors told Marker her daughter might never walk again.
''I accepted it right away,'' said Thuy by phone from MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where she is recovering. ''I didn't put my head down and cry. I never said, ÔI'm never going to walk again.' If you want to do something, you can do it.''
Thuy said she began her physical therapy one week after the accident.
After more than a month in the hospital, she was doing three hours of physical therapy every day and has regained some feeling, her mother said.
One thing she couldn't do was come home because her mother's house needed to be equipped with a wheelchair ramp and Marker, who is unemployed, couldn't afford to have one built.
However, with the help of a friend and a few strangers, a ramp was constructed at Marker's house and it will ultimately help bring Thuy home.
''I feel really good to be able to come home soon,'' Thuy said. ''I love to be independent.''
Sandy Browning of Sheffield Lake, who is Marker's friend, said she thought she could find a county agency to build the ramp.
''I knew she needed the ramp,'' said Browning. ''I assumed there'd be agencies to help with this kind of thing.''
However, Browning kept hitting dead ends.
Then she tried Carter's Lumber in Sheffield where manager Bonny Hiltan said she would help with the supplies.
''I felt horrible for her, and Sandy was just so determined to help Laura and Sherry,'' said Hiltan.
Next, Browning needed a contractor, but she said random calls to contractors in the phone book led nowhere.
''The standard answer was they don't do small jobs or they weren't interested,'' she said.
Enter Bill DiFucci, who works with Cassell Construction. He said he took on the job at no cost because he said he hoped someone would have done the same thing for him.
''This is probably my only project I hope they get to tear down someday,'' said DiFucci.
Three family friends also volunteered to help out during the two-day project last weekend.
''It's wonderful, it makes everything else seem minor,'' said Marker, who said her daughter might have had to go to an assisted living facility without the donated ramp.
''It meant the world to be able to do it. Just that she can be with her family, that's going to be key to her recovery -- to be with her family and friends,'' said Hiltan.
Thuy said she is grateful for the support of her family and friends, who come to visit her daily in the hospital.
''I appreciate everyone praying for me. I pray every day. I think that's why I'm doing so well. God has good plans for me, that's why I'm still alive,'' she said. ''One day I'll be running down that ramp.''
©The Morning Journal 2002
http://www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1699&dept_id=46371&newsid=6347401&PAG=461&rfi=9