Generous donations lead to a van for Kayla

SUMMERVILLE -- Kayla Beczynski and her family went to the movies Monday night to see "Zombieland." It was a relatively short outing, just a trip to the theater with a supermarket stop thrown in. But for Kayla it was another step toward a life she's struggling to reclaim.

For more than four months after she was paralyzed in an all-terrain vehicle crash, 15-year-old Kayla's life revolved around hospital rooms and the confines of her home. Without a vehicle to carry her motorized wheelchair, she depended on ambulances to take her where she needed to go.

That changed last week thanks to the generosity of Lowcountry residents. Her family received dozens of calls and thousands of dollars worth of donations after The Post and Courier profiled Kayla's story on Sept. 27.

The money allowed her mother, Carrie Rhymer, to purchase a used, handicapped-accessible van she had been unable to afford on her own.

"This is huge," Rhymer said Tuesday as she looked over the Chevy van. "We're so happy."

Since the wreck, some $20,000 has been raised through the Courage for Kayla campaign to help support her and her family. A 5K race and benefit bash is set for this weekend, and another event is in the works for later this month.

Kayla's first trip in the van was last week to her favorite restaurant, the Dog & Duck pub on Old Trolley Road. It was the first time she'd eaten out with her family since the May 16 crash.

Kayla was initially uneasy about the stares she might receive from fellow diners, but her aunt, Kirsty Murray, told Kayla that people already knew who she was and they were behind her all the way.

She smiled as her aunt dried her tears, and they soon settled in for a meal.

On the way home, Kayla complained of chest pains and had trouble breathing. She lost consciousness four times as her family called for an ambulance, her mother said. Paramedics rushed her to Summerville Medical Center, where doctors were concerned she might have pneumonia or heart problems.

Doctors at Medical University Hospital later determined that Kayla had an upper-respiratory infection, and she was allowed to return home on Thursday, her mother said.

The incident was indicative of the struggles Kayla has faced since the wreck in a wooded area near the Sawmill Branch Trail. She was riding on the back of an ATV driven by her neighbor, 32-year-old Katrina Elsworth, when the vehicle plunged off a 15-foot embankment and landed in a canal.

Neither was wearing a helmet or protective gear.

The impact broke Kayla's neck in two places, damaged her spine and left her unable to move from the neck down. Though she requires full-time nursing care and breathes with the aid of a ventilator, Kayla has come further than some doctors predicted.

She eats on her own, has built strength in her lungs and can move her neck a bit. On Tuesday, she felt tingling in her feet after she was lowered into her chair. Her mother took that as a hopeful sign that sensation is slowly returning.

Over the weekend, they drove to Greenville with two friends to meet with representatives from a Shriners' Hospital in Philadelphia. The trip proved a harrowing journey after they discovered that the battery in Kayla's chair had failed to charge and problems developed with her ventilator.

That led to some unplanned stops, several frantic phone calls and the travelers taking turns powering the ventilator by hand before they arrived.

The journey ultimately proved fruitful when they learned that Kayla had been accepted into the Shriner facility for care. She is soon expected to travel to Philadelphia for a two-week stay, during which specialists will evaluate her chances for improvement and look for ways to help her with breathing and operating her wheelchair, her mother said.

Kayla's family hopes the visit will lead to advanced therapy to help Kayla regain use of her limbs.

For the moment, Kayla is just happy to be getting out again. She admits to some nervousness about the stares she receives and what acquaintances will say when they see her. But it's not going to stop her.

The mall needs a visit, and a Green Wave football game wouldn't be a bad time either. Things have changed, but life is still out there to be had.