Garage Sale
LYNNWOOD, Wash. -- She was trying to help a neighbor having heart trouble, but Cathy Steiner herself became the victim of a devastating injury.
"I no longer have my body, I really don't, but my attitude and my spirit is all I have that's going to keep me going," Steiner said. "That and my family and friends."
On Saturday, friends held a massive garage sale, as they call it, even though the number of items donated would hardly fit in most garages. Tents and portable storage units line the parking lot outside the John L. Scott real estate office in Lynnwood where Steiner works.
"Donations are coming in from everywhere -- neighbors, friends, coworkers," said Sandi Davis, a friend and real estate agent who organized the sale.
In fact, dozens of coworkers, some still decked out in business attire, have spent more than a week sorting and pricing and wheeling out goods, from skateboards to stereos, coffee tables to children's clothing.
"There are thousands of items here," Davis said. "There are brand new toys we haven't even unboxed, literally brand new in-the-box Tonka trucks and dolls. You name it, we have got it here."
Proceeds will go towards medical bills via a fund in Steiner's name with the Northwest Spinal Cord Injury Fund.
"I can't imagine going through what she's going through," Davis said.
"I'm not the kind of person who gets taken care of. I take care of people," Steiner said.
This past June, that's what Steiner was doing the night she was hurt. Friends said she was running next door to help a neighbor's husband who was having heart problems, but ended up falling.
"I must have slipped and tried to grab my hands, you know, and didn't quite get it, did a somersault. Broke my neck," she said. "I'm paralyzed from the chest down, but I'm considered a quadriplegic, because my hands don't work."
With mounting hospital bills, she said her home is now in foreclosure and her husband lost his job two days before her fall. That's why what her coworkers are doing means so much.
"I couldn't believe that people would actually do that for me, I mean, really? Hundreds of people. People I don't even know coming up and being ... being so wonderful," she said.
"Cathy runs and jumps for everybody and it's good to see that everybody's giving it back to her right now," said Davis.
SUNDAY UPDATE
Organizers believe they reached their goal of $12,000. They also report that a mobile home was donated.
