Local store donates time, supplies to build family a ramp

A mother in need reached out to her community to help make her home wheelchair accessible before her son had yet another surgery.

In an act of desperation, Michelle Finn asked a home improvement store for help. Within hours, help was in her front yard.

Michelle's son Josh can't walk, so Michelle picks him up and carries him inside.

"He has a lot of limitations," Michelle said. "He's non-verbal, and he's not walking...but he's funny!"

Josh has a rare genetic disorder called 1p36 Deletion Syndrome. He has scoliosis and has had numerous spinal surgeries.

"He looks bad on paper, but he's an amazing child," Michelle explained.

On Sept. 1, Josh has another surgery. Doctors will bolt a rod to every vertebrae in his back.

"I started freaking out, thinking 'I don't know what I'm going to do, how am I going to get him home?' Michelle said. "After surgery, I won't be able to carry him because he will have an incision down his spine."

She contacted local nonprofits, pleading for anyone to help her get some kind of ramp.

Nothing worked, so she contacted her local Home Depot.

"I just told them, 'I have a child having spinal surgery, and I don't know how I'm going to carry him into my house.'"

Home Depot donated the wood, and employee Gary Kleiner and three of his co-workers came on their days off to build the ramp.

"We jumped right on it because Michelle has a need. And she's really in a bad spot," Gary said.

"When people reach out like that, it always makes me cry a little bit, because it renews your faith in human kind," Michelle told Eyewitness News.

Gary told ABC11 on Friday that they will have the ramp finished by the time Josh comes home from his surgery.

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