You can learn a lot about a community by the way it responds when misfortune strikes one of its members. Consider what Cherokee County and others did for a little girl seriously injured in a car crash.
After more than two months in hospitals, 6-year-old Monica Lunn came home last week to a changed house in Canton – retrofitted by volunteers who spent hours making it wheelchair-accessible – and a lift-equipped van that wasn’t there before, thanks to the kindness of strangers.
“We had donations from as far away from Pennsylvania, companies in Woodstock, Canton and Atlanta that donated, schools that had collections with staff and students and sent money – it was totally the whole community,” said Tammy Sandell, Monica’s principal at Knox Elementary School in Canton.
The accident happened March 29 a short distance from school, when a car driven by Monica’s mother Lakhena Meas turned left from Knox Bridge Highway onto Riverbend Way and was struck by a pick-up truck.
Meas and Monica’s 9-old-sister Melina Lunn had minor injuries, but Monica was seriously hurt. She was rushed to Northside Hospital-Cherokee, then transported by helicopter to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Eggleston.
Monica later was moved to Children’s Healthcare Scottish Rite, where she received intensive physical, occupational and speech therapy. She is paralyzed from the neck down and needs a respirator to breathe.
Sandell sent out a plea for help. A Melina and Monica Lunn Benefit Fund page was set up on Facebook (bit.ly/1UC56xX). People responded, raising $30,729 toward the roughly $35,850 cost so Monica’s family could buy an accessible van from Mobility Works, an outfit that sells wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
Sunshine on a Ranney Day, an Atlanta nonprofit that helps families of special-needs children adapt their homes, is redoing the master bedroom and master bath for Monica on the ground floor of her house.
Members of Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services, who had treated Monica and her family at the accident scene, also pitched in.
“Firefighter Brandon Wilson organized a huge, one-day event – they called it ‘Funn for Lunn’ – with bounce houses, horses, all that stuff, that turned out to be very successful and raised $8,650,” Assistant Fire Chief Eddie Robinson said.
For the family’s house, Robinson said he and Firefighters John Montague and Benji Pearson “got materials donated from the Sixes Road Home Depot and Ernst Concrete … (for) a wheelchair ramp to the front door, and a 4-foot walkway with patios so Monica will be able to get outside and enjoy fresh air.”
Taylor Construction is helping with the ramp, and John Elder of ACR Heating & Air is working on the home’s HVAC system.
“This is just a great community, and the people who make up this fire department are just amazing,” Robinson said. “There are these big, tough, strong men and women with the softest hearts you’ve ever seen.”
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