News

Actions

Battle Creek mom who helps others needs help replacing wheelchair

Posted at 10:48 PM, Mar 25, 2015
and last updated 2015-03-25 23:25:41-04

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. --  We first met Kellie Keller last fall, delivering meals to the needy around Thanksgiving time. Today, we caught up with her again as she struggled to get around after her power chair was destroyed in a recent car accident.

Keller is known for paying it forward. "Helping others makes me smile," she says.

She was all business when we first met her last November. She and her son were delivering meals to needy families for Thanksgiving. Kellie says she spent nearly $400 of her own money.

"I like to make people smile," she said. "It makes me feel good knowing that all the bad things that have happened to me that I can do something nice for someone else."

When we drove around with Keller, she was using a  power chair that was in good shape. Now, a much different story.

"We were in a six-car pile up in Atlanta, and my car was in the middle," says Keller.  Kellie was heading to Florida for vacation when she was hit. She was riding in the same car she used to deliver Thanksgiving meals.

Her power chair was crushed in the crash.

Kellie was left with no way to get around. Her car insurance didn't cover the cost to replace her power chair, and when she checked in with Medicare, "they said i do not physically need one, and I walk like a drunken monkey."

"This is stupid. It makes me mad,"

Kellie has used a wheelchair since she was five when her family car was hit by a train. She has spent her whole life beating the odds, taking care of herself and struggling to walk.

Now, the woman who helps others needs help. She can't afford to buy a new power chair, so  she started a gofundme page to raise money for her chair.

"One like this is almost five to six thousand dollars, so I figured I would try and ask for help."