Boy paralyzed from ATV crash receives unexpected care package

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An Anoka Middle School student paralyzed after an ATV accident on Memorial Day is getting a special gift from an unexpected place.

Daylan West is still heavily sedated at North Memorial unable to feel anything from the waist down.

His mother says wearing a helmet saved his life, but a stranger is reminding him he's not alone.

"It's just a rollercoaster. One day he'll be doing really well and the next day he just goes down," said Daylan's mom Danielle Thies.

Watching her son lie in a hospital bed, unable to breathe on his own, is an emotionally draining experience.
But for Thies, a special delivery is helping lift her spirits.

"I was shocked someone would go out of their way to send something all the way from North Dakota. It was very moving,"  said Thies.

Daylan severed his spinal chord and will probably never walk again after the ATV he was riding rolled over in northern Minnesota during the Memorial Day weekend.

But earlier this week, he received a care package with a set of Legos and a graphic novel called the "Action Bible" from someone who knows what his family is going through.

"I wanted to get one in his hands because I figured he'd be there for awhile and I knew he'd need something to do and I wanted him to know people were thinking about him and praying for him," said Jena Solhjem, who lost her son Jeremiah in an ATV accident near Fargo last fall.

Since he loved Legos, Solhjem has donated some 200 sets to kids who've been hospitalized, some from similar accidents, through a non profit she created called Do It Well, Inc. in Jeremiah's honor.

"The week before he died, he'd been working with our daughter and he turned to her and said 'life is better when you do it well'. And we just thought it was so much wisdom in that statement for a 9-year-old and we want to do it well in his memory, " said Solhjem.

As for Daylan, his friends covered his house with words of encouragement in chalk and his family received a 12-pack of his favorite beverage from Arizona Tea.

But his mom says the items considered toys to most people are actually helping build a better world.

"Nothing is ever going to give him what he had before but at least it will give him something else to think about while he's going through it," said Thies.

A GoFundMe account to help cover medical expenses and get their house ready for Daylan's wheelchair has raised about $6,000.