Woman's stolen wheelchair replaced

Kim Gayleard was overwhelmed. Just hours after the story about how the Sunday School teacher's wheelchair was stolen ran in the Saturday edition of The Capital and The Maryland Gazette, calls from people offering to help started pouring in.

And by Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Gayleard had a new electric wheelchair.

"It looks brand new," she said. "The seat is just like sitting in car. It's very roomy, it's a wider-type chair. I even sat my little 5-year-old on my lap and took him around the block. It's so nice to have the electric one, because going back and forth to the store I get arthritis in my hands, and in the winter it really hurts."

The Brooklyn Park resident has spina bifida and lymphoedema and is dependent on her wheelchair. She uses it to get to the grocery store and to North Arundel Church, where she teaches a special-needs Sunday School class and helps with a program for special-needs children called Buddy Break.

Then someone stole that wheelchair during the night of Sept. 21.

Her situation was dire until Doreen Conlee of Hanover decided to help.

"I just couldn't believe someone would steal her wheelchair," Mrs. Conlee said. "We had (an electric wheelchair) in the garage, and when my husband read the story (in The Maryland Gazette), he said, 'You know, we're not going to use it, let's give it to her.' "

Mrs. Conlee said she has been on crutches for the past four years after an ankle transplant went bad and just finished what she hopes will be the last of many surgeries. Her husband bought the electric chair at an auction, but she never used it.

"I'm glad (Mrs. Gayleard) could use it," she said. "I know what it's like to be without something you need to get around with, that's for sure."

Jerry Evans of Davidsonville called The Capital after reading about her stolen wheelchair, trying to find a way to donate toward a new wheelchair for Mrs. Gayleard.

"It's just a mean, vicious act and obviously done by somebody who really needs help," Mr. Evans said. "It's a terrible thing for somebody who has given so much of themselves to the community to be victimized. This was her lifeline that was taken. That's what touched me so much about it."

He said he also teaches Sunday School, at Holy Family Catholic Church in Davidsonville, and said he knows firsthand what it takes to work with children.

"For somebody to teach Sunday School, it takes a lot of patience," he said. "I'm not comparing myself to her because she gives a lot more than I do. (The story) touches a person of faith to action."

When Allison Eatough, a spokeswoman for Baltimore Washington Medical Center, learned that Mrs. Gayleard's wheelchair had been stolen, she said she forwarded the information to the hospital's nurses and administrators.

"We've all kind of come together and said, 'Let's try to help her,' " Ms. Eatough said.

At first she said they had hoped to donate one of the hospital's wheelchairs, but those are designed to be pushed and are difficult for a person to wheel herself around in, she said. "(Mrs. Gayleard) does so much locally for her community, and it's so sad when something like this happens, when someone steals your only mode of transportation," she said. "I wanted to talk to her and see what she needs."

Mrs. Gayleard said she has received about seven calls so far, she said. Besides the electric wheelchair, she's been given a "scooter" with a basket on the front for groceries and a regular wheelchair, though the latter doesn't have foot rests and one of her legs drags.

She's still looking for a non-electric wheelchair that she can take in her car - this one with footrests. Stephanie Macknovitz, office administrator at North Arundel Church, said she has received calls as well.

One caller offered a wheelchair, walker and hospital bed, she said. Extra wheelchairs that are donated to Mrs. Gayleard will be stored at the church, to give to other people who can't afford to buy them, she said.

"That's the way God works," Mrs. Macknovitz said.