December 28, 2005
Roush home for the holidays
Friends hold work bee to make home wheelchair accesible for 33-year-old Kingsley women paralyzed in car accident
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Donated time and materials plus an abundance of love brought Angie Roush home in time for Christmas.
The 33-year-old hairdresser was paralyzed in a car accident last April and had been living in a nursing home for months, with little hope for any change. Roush and her husband Allyn, had just one Christmas wish: get her home again.
Doing so required modifications to their modest Kingsley home: a wheelchair ramp to the front porch, widened interior doors to accommodate Angie's wheelchair and a handicap-accessible bathtub. In stepped friends Sherri and Terry Glezman and within in one week they had organized helpers, materials for a work bee Thursday that completed the ramp.
Angie came home Friday and, after holiday company clears out of the house, the volunteers will finish the interior jobs.
For the Roushes, it was a quick lesson in the power of friendship and caring.
"They came to visit us last week and asked us what we needed, if they could help with anything," recalled Allyn Thursday morning. "We mentioned this and the very next day they were out here taking measurements."
Angie had been friends with the Glezmans for ten years but, after a falling out, they lost touch about a year ago. Sherri had not heard of Angie' accident until Angie called two weeks ago. She was shocked to hear of the changes in Angie's life, where an incomplete spinal injury means she has minimal uncontrolled movement in her arms and none in her legs.
"There is hope that years of healing will allow her to get some kind of function back," Sherri noted.
Sherri quickly organized a visiting party of mutual friends to the nursing home. There, they all met Angie's husband, Allyn, and learned of the family's Christmas dream.
"Sitting there, he kind of got teary eyed and said that a lot of great organizations have offered to buy Christmas gifts but, 'All I need is a ramp on my parent's home so I can bring her home," recalled Sherri of Allyn's plea. "Within in 24 hours we had every contracting company online - I'm married to an incredible man."
"That's just what Christmas is all about and we were certainly glad we got to be a part of it," she added.
For the ramp, Terry Glezman, a licensed builder and owner of Outdoor Dynamics, arranged for donations of $1,400 in lumber from UBC Lumber in Grawn and Frankfort Building Supply. To build the ramp, Terry donated trailer and tools as well as his labor and that of his foreman, Kris Kammerer. A third helper on Thursday was Terry's son Dustin, 18, whose employer, Wheelock and Son Welding, donated his time for the day.
All three labored for hours in the teeth of a freezing wind Thursday to complete a ramp and railing from the driveway to the home's front door.
"It's just amazing: when you think you've got problems and you look at somebody like Angie, you don't have problems," said Terry.
This week for the bathtub project, plumber Dar Johnson is providing his labor for free. Electricians from All-Phase Electric and Consolidated Electric are also donating work to wire a lift for the bath and move any wiring needed to enlarge the bathroom for the tub.
In addition, members of the Northern Lights 4-H group donated money to purchase new clothes and personal care items for Angie. Chasten Glezman, 16, is president of the group. When he learned of Angie's situation, he called the group and suggested they help her out.
"Every year they pitch in their own money they collect and pick a nursing home and deliver gifts and games and slippers," said Sherri, adding of their decision to help Angie: "It's just a great group, they were all for it."
The outpouring of support and help is just the tables turned on Angie, who Sherri termed a caring, generous person.
"She's very giving of herself, she was actually on her way to give an old gentleman a haircut last spring, the day of the accident," noted Sherri.