Jun 4, 2009 4:38 pm US/Mountain
Injured Teacher Gets Lesson In Kindness
Written by CBS4's Suzanne McCarroll
LOUISVILLE, Colo (CBS4) ―
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CBS4's Suzanne McCarroll talks with former teacher, Heather Gardner-Muir.
CBS
Fairview High School lost a favorite teacher after a car accident left her in chronic pain and in a wheelchair. Now colleagues and friends are paying it forward to Heather Gardner-Muir. They've asked CBS4 News for $1,000 to help build Heather a wheelchair ramp and a front porch at her house.
"I said to her 'What would make your life better?' and she said, 'If I had a porch and a wheelchair ramp I could get out of the house and go see a friend'," said Erin Pass who is heading the project.
Since her accident, Heather has led a fairly isolated life. The woman who used to climb mountains and run marathons has been unable to leave her home without someone to help. Now she'll be able to wheel down to a friend's house or a nearby coffee shop on her own.
"It will give me some independence. I won't be in so much pain having to navigate steps in a wheelchair," Gardner-Muir told CBS4.
Friends are donating their time to do the work. Companies like Trex Deck are donating the materials. Smiling Moose Deli arrived with lunch for the volunteer workers.
Heather's students from Fairview High School still drop by to see their favorite teacher. Now she'll have a front porch to sit and enjoy conversations about the books she used to teach her AP English classes.
"It's been six years of being confined to the house, so this is a new world, an entire new world," Gardner-Muir added.
Volunteers hope to have the project finished by mid-June.
Additional Resources
For more information on how you can help go the
Acupuncture Clinic of Boulder Web site.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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