Offers Flood In to Replace Girl’s Stolen Wheelchair

An 11-year-old Woodland Hills girl whose customized wheelchair was stolen this week will soon have a replacement thanks to a flood of public support.

“We’ve had dozens of calls from people offering help,” Los Angeles Police Lt. Robert Warren said. “Calls from as far away as New York. A woman from Northern California even offered to donate a similar chair that used to belong to her deceased daughter.”

The $5,000 wheelchair was stolen from a car belonging to Allison Smith’s mother, Carla, while it was parked outside their home Monday night.

Carla Smith first noticed that the wheelchair was missing Tuesday morning when she was getting ready to take Allison to a special day-camp class at Balboa Recreation Center. Allison, who has cerebral palsy and a birth defect called microencephaly, normally attends Lokrantz Elementary School in Reseda but is now on winter break.

The purchase of the original wheelchair was partially covered by Allison’s mother’s health insurance. But Carla Smith has since changed jobs and her current policy does not cover its replacement.

A state agency, California Children’s Services, helped the Smiths buy the wheelchair last year. Allison may have qualified for more assistance in buying a replacement, said Lynda Steele, head of the agency’s Los Angeles County office.

The wheelchair allowed Allison to take part in activities that other children take for granted. Family members were amazed by the heartfelt offers of help they received after the story was covered in the media. They haven’t yet reviewed the offers.

“I’m just overwhelmed at this,” said Allison’s grandmother, Marcia Forbes of Woodland Hills. “It’s an indication that something good can come out of something bad. She’s my buddy. I love her so much and I hated to see her cry when she found out the wheelchair was gone.”

More than 20 people telephoned The Times on Wednesday offering to help Allison.

“I haven’t been able to get that girl out of my mind,” said Meagan Lloyd of Woodland Hills. “There’s so many tragedies that happen, but maybe in this one case I can do something. I can’t believe someone would do that to her.”

Allison has an appointment on Monday to be fitted for a new wheelchair at the same Chatsworth company where she purchased the original. The process of ordering and building her a replacement will take about a month, said Barbara Bath, general manager of Wheelchair House of California.

The old one “was built to her specifications,” Bath said. “We ordered her parts from two separate companies and built it here from our store. . . . It’s a beautiful wheelchair and we look forward to helping her out.”

Los Angeles police have made no arrests and have no leads. They said stolen wheelchairs have little resale value.

But Bath, who agreed that such crimes are rare, said wheelchair theft is a growing problem.

“I had somebody break my windows last year and steal two custom-made wheelchairs from our store,” Bath said. “I’ve never seen as many of these stolen as we’ve seen in the past two years. Sometimes, I wonder if there is black market developing in custom-made wheelchairs.”