Six-year-old Titus Johnson puts his right hand to his chin, then throws out his arm to signal "Nana."
He points to show he wants to "go," then rubs his chest to signal "please."
A van with a wheelchair lift, purchased through donations, will help Titus make trips to his grandmother's house, to school and anywhere else he needs to go.
"Even going to Wal-Mart will be a blessing," said his mother, Laura Craft. "That's his favorite place in the world. He's a people-watcher."
Titus, who is a new first-grader at C.C. Wright Elementary School, has cerebral palsy and was born with spina bifida, a condition in which the vertebrae didn't fuse properly around the spinal cord. He also had a stroke at birth.
He communicates with sign language. He is paralyzed from the waist down, and most of his motor control is limited to his right arm.
The 2007 GMC Sienna 3500, which has a new wheelchair lift installed, cost more than $30,000 and was bought with donations through the High Country First in Families program at the Rainbow Center, which provides services for children and families.
Most of the money came from a group of Lowe's Cos. retirees.
"We all kicked in," said Petro "Pete" Kulynych, a Wilkes County philanthropist who started his career as a bookkeeper at what was then a small hometown hardware store in North Wilkesboro and became one of Lowe's top executives. He and his family have been longtime supporters of the Rainbow Center, whose offices are housed in the Kulynych Family Life Center.
Retired Lowe's executive Arnold Lakey is the chairman of the Rainbow Center board. He and his wife, Becky, helped, as did Lowe's retiree Phil Stevens, who owns Specialty Car Co. in North Wilkesboro, where the family signed the paperwork for the van yesterday.
A handful of other donations helped buy the van, including a $10 donation from a fellow family in the High Country First in Families program.
When Titus was in kindergarten last year, his 400-pound motorized wheelchair stayed at school.
He has a manual wheelchair at home, but getting it into the family's car has been a struggle. His mother or stepfather, Andrew Craft, would take the wheels off to load it into the car; then, one of them would follow in another car to help get it out.
Titus' new brother, Max, who was born May 17, added to the mix.
His mother said that Titus recently signed his first full sentence: "Mom, baby's crying, stop."
Laura Craft laughed when she said she hasn't figured out how to make that wish come true.
But the lift-equipped van is a dream come true for a family that can now all get in one vehicle and go together.
Nana, who is Craft's mother, Deborah Coen, lives just up a hill from Titus and his family in Millers Creek. It was a struggle to push him up the hill, but the short trip to grandmother's house will be a lot easier when they can bring his motorized wheelchair home in the van.
"This right here, it's going to give him that much more freedom and opportunity," Coen said, standing near the van. "We do appreciate it very, very much. ... This is a miracle to me, a blessing, it's wonderful."
■ Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com.
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