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Wallkill Valley Times , Wednesday , August 24 , 2016

PUBLIC AGENDA

MONDAY , AUGUST 29 Valley Central Board of Education 7:15 p . m . Administration building , 944 Route 17K , Montgomery . Town of Montgomery Planning Board , 7:30 p . m . Town Government Center , 110 Bracken Road , Montgomery .

THURSDAY , SEPTEMBER 1 Montgomery Town Board , 7 p . m . Town Government Center , 110 Bracken Road , Montgomery . Shawangunk Town Board , 7 p . m . Town Hall , 14 Central Ave ., Wallkill Village of Walden ZBA , 7:30 p . m . Village Hall , 1 Municipal Square .

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The Wallkill Valley Times , ( USPS 699-490 ) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh , N . Y . 12550 , with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . . Single copy : $ 1 at newsstand . By mail in Orange , Ulster or Sullivan Counties : $ 40 annually , $ 44 out of county . Periodicals permit at Newburgh , N . Y . POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Wallkill Valley Times , 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . 12550

By TED REMSNYDER

spirited teenage girl from Wallkill has been forced to endure an unfathomable series of health crises , and a group of local residents are coming together to ease her forthcoming return home .

Daniella “ Nella ” Seymour , 13 , was diagnosed with HHT , a genetic disorder of the blood vessels , when she was just a child , and her health took a turn for the worse on June 28 when she suffered a brain aneurysm that necessitated brain surgery . She is currently on the mend at Blythedale Children ’ s Hospital in Valhalla , but there are complications for her impending homecoming .

Nella has been confined to a wheelchair , and the cost of retrofitting her home to make it accessible is prohibitive . Friends of the family , including Roger Rascoe , Chairman of the Ulster County Republican Party , have come forth to help raise funds to pay for the pricey renovations .

“ She ’ s had now 30 different surgeries ,” Rascoe said of Nella . “ She ’ s going to be coming home from the hospital in about a month or so . Her dad is making his own house handicapped accessible , but her mom ’ s house also needs to be renovated . I ’ m coordinating the work , and we have some construction to do on the house . Any help we can get to fund it , or contractors that have skills that could help out , we ’ re reaching out to everybody that we can .”

Rascoe is a longtime friend of Nella ’ s father Kevin Roberts , an Ulster County Legislator and owner of Roberts Contracting in Newburgh , and the pair recently came up with an estimate for the construction . “ I ’ m a certified building inspector and Kevin ’ s a contractor , and we went over to his ex-wife ’ s house and we anticipated that it would be $ 20,000 in renovation costs ,” Roscoe said . “ That ’ s just for materials , it doesn ’ t include the labor . We ’ re getting volunteer labor to do it .”

The construction work that has to be done to smooth Nella ’ s transition back to a steady home life is extensive . “ The house needs a handicap ramp up from the driveway to the front door ,” Rascoe said . “ Inside the house , the carpeting has been removed and there needs to be some flooring put down . The hallway is wide enough , but the door to the bathroom and the door to her bedroom are too narrow for her wheelchair .”

To raise the needed cash for the

A GoFundMe site has been set up to help with the medical and living expenses of Nella Seymour .

refurbishments to Paula Robert ’ s home , Craig Lopez set up a page on the GoFundMe crowdsourcing website to raise money from anyone touched by Nella ’ s plight . The page , which can be accessed at gofundme . com / 2exrnnq2 , has raised more than $ 3,200 since it went live on July 17 . The fund drive still has a ways to go to meet its target of $ 20,000 , but Rascoe is hoping they can get there . “ We ’ re getting to our goal slowly , but any help we can get from anybody would be greatly appreciated ,” he said .

The team hopes to collect the funds in a speedy manner and commence the work soon in anticipation of Nella ’ s return . “ Our timetable is to get this done by September 15 ,” Rascoe said . “ I can start the work the day after Labor Day .

In the meantime we ’ re trying to raise the money .” Roscoe is still seeking crew members to work on the project once it gets up and running . “ We ’ re going to need some people with carpentry skills , some basic house wiring skills ,” he said . “ We could also use some people with tiling skills . There ’ s a lot of work to be done . I ’ m sure this will be a communitytype event .”

The local family has gone through a terrible ordeal in recent months , but Nella has shown tremendous courage in the process , fighting through dozens of operations in a quest to regain her health . “ After many surgeries , she was home and she collapsed ,” Rascoe said . “ They drove her to the hospital and she had the brain aneurysm . This is a vibrant 13-year-old girl who ’ s aware , she speaks . She ’ s going through a difficult rehab and it ’ s going to be a long-term thing . The average rehab stay for this type of surgery is 2 - 3 months . She ’ ll have to come home in a wheelchair , but she ’ s doing great . We want to help the family . Her father ’ s been taking time off his contracting work to help her at the hospital with her rehab , and the medical costs are unreal .”

Anyone who is able to donate to the cause in any amount is urged to visit . gofundme . com / 2exrnnq2 and lend a helping hand .