Volunteers build ramp for Lynn man

LYNN – Two years into being diagnosed with a debilitating neuromuscular disease, simply walking the stairs up to his mother’s front door was no longer an option for Patrick Cogan.That’s just one way the 2003 graduate of Lynn English High School’s life has changed since being diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia, a disease similar to Lou Gehrig’s: He can’t text, it’s difficult to walk and a wheelchair is the most convenient form of transportation.But this past weekend, a community came together to make Cogan’s life a little easier by building a wheelchair ramp to his mother’s Lynn home. The crew, a collaboration of Lynn residents and businesses with construction and lumber ties, as well as a dozen or so volunteers, worked 12-hour days on Saturday and Sunday to build the ramp.On Saturday, with hammering well under way, Cogan and his family were still in shock by the gesture.”It’s really humbling,” Cogan said. Before the ramp, Cogan said he would have to stumble up his mother’s entryway stairs on crutches and his mother would have to carry his bulky wheelchair. When she entertained guests on the lawn, Cogan would usually watch from inside the house because “it was too difficult to get outside.”But all that’s changed now.”I’ll be more mobile when I’m here, and I’ll be able to get in on my own, which to me, independence is everything,” Cogan said.The ramp came to fruition when fellow Lynn English alumnus Shane Seaman, who works for a construction company, read about Cogan’s diagnosis in an Aug. 9 issue of The Daily Item. At the time, his family was holding a fundraiser to purchase a wheelchair-friendly van and pay for a service dog – two things the Cogans are still fundraising for.Seaman said he was motivated to help Cogan and his family.”I knew we had to do something,” he said. So he contacted the charitable foundation of his company, Suffolk Construction Company, who teamed up with American Construction Company to donate the lumber. Lynn-based Connor Home Improvement, run by Rob, Bob and Steve Connor of Lynn, donated their time to manage the project, and many young men from the community volunteered their manpower and time to get the project done.Cogan, who helped hoe some of the grass to make way for the ramp, said he was floored by the outpouring of support.”Guys I haven’t seen since high school are helping me; you don’t expect that people are going to do that for you,” he said.His mother was out of town that weekend on a long-planned trip, but Cogan’s grandparents, who are lifelong Lynners, weren’t as surprised as their grandson by the charitable act.”You’ll never see anything like this except in Lynn,” said his grandmother, Camela Pace. “People come together here.”If You Go? The Cogans will hold a fundraiser 7-11 p.m. Saturday at Gannon Golf Club, 60 Great Woods Road in Lynn, to help raise money for a wheelchair-friendly van. Tickets are $15 and there will be a DJ and raffles. You can buy tickets at Tony’s Pub, 196 Franklin St., or Rolly’s Tavern on the Square, 338 Broadway, or at the golf course before the event. The Lynn Police Union is also sponsoring the fundraiser. If you would like to donate to the cause, please mail a check made out to Patrick Cogan Fundraiser to Got Wheels c/o Patrick Cogan, 41 Milton St. #1, Lynn, MA, 01902.
Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].