Lodge raises money for paralyzed teen

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Teen: Needs special van for campus travel

0JOHN E. CHAMBERS/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

North Topeka teen Carrie Koch, who was paralyzed in a car accident last April at Perry, is shown with Kevin Stovall, master of Golden Rule Lodge No. 90, AF&AM. The masonic lodge is planning an auction and bake sale Nov. 22 to raise funds for a hand control van that will haul Koch's power wheelchair to a university campus.

Donation of van will speed dreams of attending college

By JOHN E. CHAMBERS

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

NORTH TOPEKA --- Members of a North Topeka lodge are gearing up for a benefit auction next month to buy a hand-operated van for a teen who was paralyzed in a car accident earlier this year.

Golden Rule Lodge No. 90, AF&AM, is planning the auction for Carrie Koch, 18, of North Topeka, on Saturday, Nov. 22 at the lodge hall, 909 N. Lyman Road. The hall is located just west of the Seaman USD 345 offices.

Koch is the daughter of Marvin and Treva Koch, who live on North Jefferson Street. She sustained paralyzing injuries to her spine and spinal cord in a two-car collision April 25 at US-24 highway and Ferguson Road, near Perry.

Koch has undergone surgeries and therapy at St. Francis Health Center in Topeka, and later at Craig Hospital, a rehabilitation and research hospital at Denver for patients with spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury. At Craig Hospital, Koch was trained to operate a hand-controlled vehicle. She subsequently passed a driving test given by the hospital, which gave her a prescription for such a vehicle.

Donation of a van will help Koch reach her goal of attending journalism school and becoming a magazine writer. She developed an interest in journalism while working on the "Sunflower," Topeka High School's yearbook.

After the accident, which occurred three weeks before Koch's high school graduation, the school froze Koch's grades at the level she had already achieved, and she was able to graduate 10 th in her class. However, she was physically unable to attend the ceremonies on May 18. Koch also had worked at McDonald's in North Topeka for two years while attending high school.

Koch said she doesn't recall the accident, although she sometimes thinks she remembers screaming. She does remember clearly waking up in the storage space in the back of the '97 Blazer with her legs hanging over the back seat. A friend had been driving the vehicle, and two others were in it. She was the most severely hurt. Her neck was broken in two places and a bone lower in her back was shattered, injuring the spinal cord. That injury left her paralyzed below the neck.

After undergoing 17 days of treatment at St. Francis, the Children's Miracle Network at St. Francis flew Koch to Craig Hospital, where she made encouraging progress. While she was paralyzed from the neck down, she couldn't even hold a straw to her mouth to drink. Now she is paralyzed only below the waist.

Her therapist in Colorado wrote a prescription for a power wheelchair and Craig Hospital, which works with benefactors Darrel Gwynn Racing Team and Sunrise Medical, recommended Koch for their donation of a $10,000 Quickie power wheelchair.

Gwynn himself presented the chair to Koch on July 18 in front of 40,000 race fans at starting line of the 24th annual MOPAR Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Englewood's Bandimere Speedway. The chair was complete with New York Yankees pin stripes, because the ball team's owners, George and Hank Steinbrenner, joined the Gwynn Racing team in mid 2000.

Gwynn had suffered paralysis from a broken neck, and also lost his left arm in a racing exhibition accident in England on April 15, 1990.

Koch received the third Quickie wheelchair donated by the Gwynn Racing Team. The second had gone to a girl from Marion, Kan. Carrie's chair is a five-speed electric. The wheelchair is small enough to help Koch travel on a university campus. While she is leaning toward attending the University of Kansas, Koch hasn't yet made a decision. She does know for sure she doesn't want to attend Kansas State University.

The lodge's interest in Koch's van was stirred up by her mother, who recalled that her own father had been a mason and asked whether the North Topeka lodge could help with the auction. Lodge members don't yet know how much money is needed to buy the van.

The auction will start at 10 a.m. and continue until about noon or beyond. A professional auctioneer will sell the donated merchandise. The lodge is open to receiving donations now from businesses, organizations and individuals. It will take any kind of donations from merchandise to money, said Tyler Curtis, who is in charge of the project for the lodge. The cut-off point for receiving donations will be the morning of Nov. 22.

Because the lodge buidling is not always open to the public, those planning to leave a donation or needing someone to pick up a donation should call the lodge and leave a message. They are asked to give the lodge a little notice, Curtis said

A bake sale, with desserts, also will be held during the auction. The food will be prepared by wives of lodge members, the Eastern Star and members of the Koch family. Curtis said the lodge plans to count up the proceeds immediately after the auction, and give the them to Koch.

Golden Rule No. 90, with 800 members, is the third largest Masonic lodge in Kansas, members said. The lodge celebrated its 100th anniversary on Sunday, Oct. 19, with an open house. It has always been located in North Topeka. It held its first authorized meeting March 17, 1870, and received its charter that Oct. 20.

The lodge has met in various locations in uptown North Topeka and now meets in the former Marine shop next door to the old Seaman High School.

John Chambers is a writer and photographer who lives in North Topeka. He can be reached at 234-6773 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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