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Police friend spearheads effort to repair MS patient's home and more
By Jewell Cardwell
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Nov 24, 2008
''If you were going for a job interview, then it was free. . . .
''But over the years, her multiple sclerosis has ravaged her body. Still she refuses to give up. Right now, she is mostly confined to her bedroom. She cannot go outside to her backyard; mobility inside her home is very limited.''
However, work does give Lang ''a sense of self-worth, respect and the chance to help someone else.''
For the last six years, Lang has worked as a safety communications technician alongside 911 operators for the Akron Police Department.
''Sue has said to me, 'My body may have failed me, but my mind, heart and spirit are still working good,'' Morris said. '' 'When people call 911, they don't know my physical limits. All they know is I'm there to help them and, by God, that's what I'm going to do.' Throwing in the towel is just not in her vocabulary.''
Several others, including Akron Police Lt. Rick Edwards, have shopped Lang's story to me for help over the last several months.
Even Morris' 8-year-old son, T. Delray Harris, got involved, starting a letter-writing campaign with his then second-grade class at Akron's Judith A. Resnik Community Learning Center to ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on her behalf. Others have done the same, complete with videotape.
In a high-powered effort to help Lang continue on her staying-independent journey, I'm asking those in the safety forces community — police and fire — to get together to repair her roof, which is leaking, and to make her bathroom handicapped-accessible. Oh, yes, the wheelchair ramp needs some boards replaced, too.
Teens involved with Project Shine painted the exterior of Lang's home during the summer.
In talking to Lang — who is grateful in all things — she said her most pressing need is ''to have a swivel seat installed in my 1999 Kia Sportage car.'' The Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation wouldn't do it.
If the car were equipped with a seat Lang could maneuver, she could drive it to work and cut way down on expenses.
For the last 20 months, Lang has been taking SCAT — which she describes as ''just a godsend'' — to her job. But it's costly, at $5 a trip or $10 round trip. When she works a weekend, she has to take a cab, which is $30 one way. So, half of her paycheck is going to getting her back and forth to work.
As I was going over Lang's file, presented to me by Detective Morris, I received a call from Clinton Bennett from Stow, who said he had a like-new Super Torque electric wheelchair he would like to donate to someone who needs one but can't afford it. Bennett and his wife Bea had purchased the wheelchair for a friend who died three weeks ago.
I immediately thought of Lang.
''She has an electric wheelchair, but it's showing lots of signs of wear,'' Morris said. ''But for now, it gets her where she needs to go. I believe she got it secondhand. I noticed that the seat is torn and she is sitting on a board with a piece of foam. I think the foam is to give her more height.''
So I connected Bennett — who could have easily sold the wheelchair for profit but didn't — with Lang.
An excited and grateful Lang received the new wheelchair Saturday morning; it was delivered to her home by the Bennetts and their son-law, Jim Snyder, also of Stow. Snyder's wife, like Lang, has MS.
By the way, Lang is donating her old wheelchair to someone else in need.
Cards for soldiers
The straight-from-the-heart plea — included in my Saturday column — about sending a holiday card to ''Any Soldier'' at Walter Reed Hospital was a great one. However, security guidelines prevent the hospital from accepting mail from strangers.
So, the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes are partnering to get the holiday cards delivered to deserving soldiers.
Participants are encouraged to address the cards as follows: Holiday Mail for Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, Md. 20791-5456. Must be postmarked by Dec. 10.
Help a child
Through today, volunteers from several area churches are busy collecting toys, hard candy and school supplies to be packed in shoe boxes and sent to suffering children in more than 90 countries through Operation Christmas Child.
Participants include New Hope Christian Fellowship, 1157 Riverside Drive, Akron; the Chapel (Green Campus), 1800 Raber Road; Northside Christian Church, 7615 Ridge Road, Sharon Township; Harvest Presbyterian Church, 1095 E. Reagan Parkway, Medina; Logos Bookstore, 976 W. Main St., Kent; and Hudson Community Chapel, 708 W. Streetsboro St.
Interested in helping or donating? Call 800-640-5692.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
Get the full article here.
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