Donation gives girl best seat in the house

Luis Pena

Leilani Gutierrez knew about the anniversary picnic being thrown for

her by friends, but she didn’t know about the $42,500 surprise.

Mother’s Day marked the second anniversary of the car accident

that left Leilani, now 6, paralyzed from the neck down. She received

the anniversary gift of a state-of-the-art wheelchair that left her

all smiles.

“It’s great,” Leilani said. “[I’m] just happy to think about

chasing Cindy,” who’s a friend of hers.

While Kim Miller, a parent of one of Leilani’s kindergarten

classmates at Newport Heights Elementary, delivered a speech, friends

and family members gathered around, almost forming a wall that

blocked Leilani’s view of the street. That’s when Jim Moore of Redman

Power Chair, based in Tucson, Ariz., took the high-tech chair out of

his SUV and delivered it to Leilani.

“My children have become so empathetic to people, and caring, and

realizing that not everyone is perfect,” Miller said.

Miller and other parents and community members got together to

raise funds for the brand new, high-tech wheelchair, known as a

sip-n-puff. The chair works by the number of puffs or sips that are

taken through the chair’s straw, Moore said.

Moore did something that he normally doesn’t do -- he made a

personal delivery. He drove 500 miles from Tucson so the chair could

be presented to Leilani on the anniversary.

“That wheelchair will is going to change her life 100%,” said

Annette Price, Leilani’s night nurse. “She will be in more control of

her own destiny, where she wants to go.”

The chair can recline, which will allow her to lay down without

being taken out of the chair. The chair also has plenty of backup

power for her ventilator, which she needs to breathe. The chair is

adjustable for growth, so it will last her at least five years, Moore

said.

Corona del Mar resident Steve Weber was a big part of the chair

presentation coming to fruition. Weber told Jack Croul about the

fundraising effort for the chair, which prompted the Croul Foundation

to step in, donating the funds necessary to buy it. The foundation

normally gives funds to educational institutions.

“[Croul] wanted it to benefit someone where it would have a direct

impact,” Weber said.

Rodney Sellers, Leilani’s father, who was already surprised by the

picnic, was even more amazed by the wheelchair gift.

“It just seems so right that something like this happens to

somebody that people give so much to try to make Leilani’s life

better,” Sellers said.

June Gutierrez, Leilani’s mother, had tears running down her face

when the chair was presented to her daughter.

“It will give her the independence to go where she wants to go,”

June Gutierrez said. “If she gets angry, she can take herself out of

the room -- you know, those little things that a normal 6-year-old

would do.”

* LUIS PENA is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298.