The community is coming together to try to help a local hero heal.Veterans Day is Thursday and there is a push to finish a fundraiser for Marine Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart with a big boost.Lainhart was badly hurt in an attack during the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan in August.Family members said there is hope as she progresses in her recovery.Lainhart's uncle, Kevin Ingram, said she is determined to walk again.Right now, he said she cannot feel below her waist.In the meantime, the community is rallying around her."She's always wanted to be in the Marine Corps. She started basic military training when she was 17 years old, got injured when she was 19. She's now 20," Ingram said.He reflected on his niece's journey and her resilience.Ingram also remembered the punch in the gut, when he learned a young woman he considered practically a daughter was hurt in the attack at the Kabul Airport in August."It's devastating. I knew where she was. I knew that she had worked the Abbey Gate," Ingram said.Lainhart, 20, graduated from East Central High School in Dearborn County in 2019.Her family and fellow Marines have seen her grit and her strength as she recovers in Chicago at the Shirley Ryan facility.Her uncle said it is not a VA Hospital, so there will be additional costs.Ingram said she cannot walk, at least now, but that's no deterrent."Kelsee is a warrior. She is a Marine. She's got a positive attitude. She is going to walk again. She tells me that every time I talk to her. She's working very hard. They have all kinds of different treatments they're doing," Ingram said.People have rallied around her.Basco Shower Enclosures, where Ingram works, launched a fundraiser to help her, too.It ends on Veterans Day with the company putting a percentage toward each donation."We don't look at this, it's not this week, it's the next 40, 50, 60 years that we're looking at. If you think about, if Kelsee doesn't fully recover and walk again, you know, you're going to have to have adaptive housing situations, you're going to have cars that are adaptive," Ingram said.Many in Lainhart's family have served in the military, including Ingram.Now, the community is saying thank you."We'd like to just kind of get as much support as we can now and push this thing forward through the finish line," he said.Ingram said they will still gladly take donations after Veterans Day.He also wanted to honor the Marine Corps birthday on Wednesday.Ingram told WLWT Lainhart still wants to chase her dream of going to college and being an FBI agent.Basco Shower Enclosures has raised more than $20,000 so far.There are several ways you can make a donation, including by Venmo.There's more information on the Basco Shower Enclosures website here.
The community is coming together to try to help a local hero heal.
Veterans Day is Thursday and there is a push to finish a fundraiser for Marine Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart with a big boost.
Lainhart was badly hurt in an attack during the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan in August.
Family members said there is hope as she progresses in her recovery.
Lainhart's uncle, Kevin Ingram, said she is determined to walk again.
Right now, he said she cannot feel below her waist.
In the meantime, the community is rallying around her.
"She's always wanted to be in the Marine Corps. She started basic military training when she was 17 years old, got injured when she was 19. She's now 20," Ingram said.
He reflected on his niece's journey and her resilience.
Ingram also remembered the punch in the gut, when he learned a young woman he considered practically a daughter was hurt in the attack at the Kabul Airport in August.
"It's devastating. I knew where she was. I knew that she had worked the Abbey Gate," Ingram said.
Lainhart, 20, graduated from East Central High School in Dearborn County in 2019.
Her family and fellow Marines have seen her grit and her strength as she recovers in Chicago at the Shirley Ryan facility.
Her uncle said it is not a VA Hospital, so there will be additional costs.
Ingram said she cannot walk, at least now, but that's no deterrent.
"Kelsee is a warrior. She is a Marine. She's got a positive attitude. She is going to walk again. She tells me that every time I talk to her. She's working very hard. They have all kinds of different treatments they're doing," Ingram said.
People have rallied around her.
Basco Shower Enclosures, where Ingram works, launched a fundraiser to help her, too.
It ends on Veterans Day with the company putting a percentage toward each donation.
"We don't look at this, it's not this week, it's the next 40, 50, 60 years that we're looking at. If you think about, if Kelsee doesn't fully recover and walk again, you know, you're going to have to have adaptive housing situations, you're going to have cars that are adaptive," Ingram said.
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Many in Lainhart's family have served in the military, including Ingram.
Now, the community is saying thank you.
"We'd like to just kind of get as much support as we can now and push this thing forward through the finish line," he said.
Ingram said they will still gladly take donations after Veterans Day.
He also wanted to honor the Marine Corps birthday on Wednesday.
Ingram told WLWT Lainhart still wants to chase her dream of going to college and being an FBI agent.
Basco Shower Enclosures has raised more than $20,000 so far.
There are several ways you can make a donation, including by Venmo.
There's more information on the Basco Shower Enclosures website here.
