BROCKTON, MASS. (WHDH) - People from close to home and as far away as Michigan came together to help a Somerset woman get an accessible van she needs for everyday life.
Beth Fournier’s life changed forever about a month after getting married. The 26-year-old woke up with numbness and pain and went to the hospital, and was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder where the body’s immune system attacks the nerves.
The effects of the syndrome left Fournier blind and paralyzed, but five years later she’s still fighting. She has many doctors’ appointments in Boston, but last year her specially-equipped van stopped working after 13 years.
A man in Michigan heard Fournier’s story and drove his own van nearly 900 miles to her. But it was expensive, so Beth’s brother’s girlfriend Stacey Wright created a GoFundMe with a $45,000 goal, and seven months later had raised enough money.
“There is so much good still, and this is a prime example,” Wright said. “I mean people donating multiple times, the same people.”
“I couldn’t have done it without them,” Fournier said. “The kindness of people is something to me… I can’t thank people enough.”
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