[Nfbv-announce] Surviving blind students identified and fund started to help them and others

[John Bailey]

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16903876?source=pkg



Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Surviving blind students identified and fund started to help them and others



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0 CommentsSurviving blind students identified and fund started to help them 
and others
By Howard Pankratz
The Denver Post

Posted: 12/20/2010 11:50:29 AM MSTUpdated: 12/20/2010 12:56:52 PM MST


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Dec 18:
Blind man killed when car slides on ice, hits three people at Littleton bus 
stopDec 17:
Blind man killed when car slides into Littleton bus stop; two women 
injuredTwo students at the Colorado Center for the Blind seriously injured 
Friday when a car slammed into a Littleton bus stop were identified today as 
Helen G. Sydnor and Carissa Ubersox.

A third student, David Nanney, was killed in the collision.

The names were released by Lt. Sean Dugan of the Littleton Police Department 
and Littleton mayor protem Debbie Brinkman.

Both Sydnor, 18, and Ubersox, 26, live at the Pinnacle at Mountain Gate 
apartment community in Littleton and attend the Colorado Center for the 
Blind.

Brinkman said Sydnor is from Virginia and Ubersox is from Wisconsin.

Brinkman said that a special fund is being established called The CCB 
Healing Fund in honor of the 47-year-old Nanney.

The fund will help cover the costs of grief counselors and "other healing 
needs the school may have" and to help support Nanney's family, particularly 
his 19-year-old daughter who is currently in college, Brinkman said.

Grief counselors, therapists and other professionals will meet with the 
students and the CCB staff when they return from their two-week holiday in 
early January, said Brinkman.

Brinkman said she and the school's executive director Julie Deden visited 
with Sydnor on Sunday.

Brinkman said that the tragedy has struck the CCB students and staff very 
hard.

"They (the students) are so tight," said Brinkman. "They live together, they 
commute together, they go to school together. I don't think people really 
understand the depth of the tightness."

She said that people who live in most U.S. communities don't see a large 
contingent of blind people on their streets. But she said the situation in 
Littleton is completely different - the blind students and staff of the CCB 
are on the streets of the Denver suburb all the time.

"Every day we watch these amazing students navigate through the streets of 
Littleton," said Brinkman. "They are the most independent and stubborn folks 
you'll ever meet. They are conquering their blindness with confidence. They 
are a proud group," said the Littleton mayor protem. "But today they are 
broken. They have lost a friend and are watching as two more friends work to 
heal their broken bodies. They are trying to understand how this could 
happen."

Brinkman said in her hospital visit with Sydnor, the young woman told her 
she recalled the impactbut remembered most a good Samaritan who rushed to 
her and the aid of her friends. Brinkman said the good Samaritan took off 
her coat and put it under Sydnor's head and removed her shirt to help stop 
Nanney's bleeding.

"She (the good Samaritan) spoke words of comfort and calm to the three who 
lay helpless on the ground," Brinkman said.

Brinkman said Sydnor is recovering from a broken pelvis, a broken wrist and 
a broken nose.

The Healing Fund has been established at the Colorado Business Bank, 2409 W. 
Main St. Littleton, Co., 80120.

Brinkman is encouraging people to mail checks or drop off cash at the bank. 
The checks should be made payable to: "The CCB Healing Fund". The fund will 
be administered by Carol Elzi at CCB.

Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz at denverpost.com.