Teen stroke victim set to receive custom electric wheelchair from Gillette's Children's Hospital
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A gift from Gillette Children's Hospital is about to change a Minnesota teenager's life.
Guided by the strength of her own hand, Natalie Bolanos was moving in an electric wheelchair through the halls of the St. Paul hospital Wednesday.
"Happy, excited," said her mother, Lizbeth. "I thought that I would never see her do that."
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The 15-year-old from Blaine suffered two strokes last year and fell into a coma. She came out of it paralyzed and unable to speak.
"They said she's not going to make it, but she's here," Lizbeth said.
In March, donation boxes raising money to buy Natalie an electric wheelchair were stolen out of a friend's Minneapolis grocery store.
After that story aired on WCCO News, Gillette Children's reached out to the Bolanos family.
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Therapists are helping Bolanos get stronger and letting her get used to using a power chair. They'll be giving her a custom chair of her own in the fall.
"It's all about just finding ways to help her be the most independent person she can be," said Kellen Feeney, a physical therapist working with Bolanos.
Her movement is slowly coming back, and she can say some small words now.
"Doctors were so surprised," Lizbeth said. "They said, 'Natalie, you're a miracle'...She moves more. She helps us when we change her. She turns by herself. She's doing much, much better."
Lizbeth says the hope is Natalie will be back at school in September.