Valley 4-year-old gets wheelchair accessible donation

It was a special surprise for 4-year-old Shelby Huerta and her family. It’s yellow and came rolling around the corner Wednesday. A wheelchair accessible cab was donated to the family after a Yellow Cab of the Desert employee saw Shelby’s story during our newscast.

Her mother Victoria Garcia said her family was struggling to get Shelby to and from her medical appointments and around town without a wheelchair accessible van.

“A driver actually brought Victoria and Shelby’s story to my attention and as I watched it was just overwhelmed with compassion for what they’re going through,” said Michal Brock, general manager of Yellow Cab of the Desert.

The company had already planned to retire the cab May 31, so Brock said the timing was perfect.

“I know if Shelby could talk, she’s excited,” said Shelby’s mother Victoria Garcia.

Shelby was born with a Chromosome 6-Q deletion. She has the physical and mental development of a six-month-old child and is confined to her wheelchair. Without a wheelchair accessible van, her mother said the chair has been confined to their home.

“With this accessible van we hope to just have her in a wheelchair, get her to the support that she needs and allowing her to go to places in her wheelchair and not just using it at home,” said Garcia.

The van has enough room to fit Shelby and her wheelchair, her parents and two sisters.

The plan is to officially give them the van by June 5, just in time for Shelby’s 5th birthday. Yellow Cab of the Desert recently repaired the engine and transmission and is working to give it a new paint job.

“They won’t have to go through that hassle of breaking down the wheelchair, putting it back up, picking all of the kids up, that’s so much to go through. Here they’ll just be able to wheel her in,” said Brock.

The cab has about 300,000 miles on it so the family hopes to save up and one day buy a wheelchair accessible van, then pay it forward.

“She definitely deserve it for all she’s gone through. Maybe one day we can donate this van to somebody else,” said Garcia. “We are lost for words. We are very grateful for their generosity and their kind hearts that they wanted to donate this van for her. It’s definitely going to change her life in many ways and ours as well.”

If you’d like to help Shelby, you can donate to youcaring.com