ASHEBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A year and a half ago, a Randolph County woman fought for her life after falling off a cliff in Davidson County. Recently, this mother of two has been fighting for a much-needed wheelchair.
“Because I’m in pain and my body hurts does not mean that I need to sit here and be miserable. I can still go out. I can still try and be a happy person,” Sarah Hussey said.
She needs a new wheelchair. She’s been selling homemade baked goods to raise the $1,700 dollars needed for a new motorized one.
“I decided to start a bake sale to raise money to buy myself this custom wheelchair that I need to go to my kids’ sporting events and be back in their lives more … They just miss me being in their lives and I miss it so much,” Hussey said.
She spent one month in the hospital in the spring of last year after she fell from a 60-foot cliff while hiking with her fiancé Brian Luck near Badin Lake in Davidson County. She broke more than 30 bones in her body.
The wheelchair she’s been using is the one she left the hospital a year and a half ago and isn’t meant for long-term use.
While raising money for a motorized chair, she’s been battling to get disability and trying to get her insurance company to cover a custom-fit wheelchair.
“It’s not fair that we’re having to jump through the hoops for insurance,” Hussey said. “We have been on the way to Winston … several times before on the way to my first wheelchair fitting, and the doctor will call us and be like, ‘Insurance just called and denied it once again.’
Unable to work, she fell in love with baking and decided to use her skills to help raise the funds needed for her wheelchair.
“Through this, I have found a love for baking, and I have always really liked baking … With the time on my hands, I’ve really, really found a joy for it,” Hussey said.
All of her baked goods are made with farm-fresh eggs from free-range chickens and brown sugar and sourdough she makes herself.
She’s been raising money since September and has delivered to customers in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Randolph County and even the firefighters who helped rescue her from the accident in Badin.
“I am still very physically limited, but it’s also been such a blessing and has … reminded me how big of a sense of community … I truly am a part of,” Hussey said.
On Wednesday, she was told by the Badin Fire Department, whose firefighters rescued her, that it’s buying the motorized wheelchair for her, and it will be delivered to her before Christmas.
With nearly half the money raised, Hussey now plans to use the money to buy her kids Christmas presents and pay bills.
She accepts orders for her baked goods through Facebook and email at sarahhussey42@gmail.com.
