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'She's got something to give'

Kelly O'Neil beat the odds after an accident left her with cerebral palsy. Now she inspires elementary school students to overcome struggles.

By Michele Miller
Published January 25, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Her voice, soft and somewhat raspy, can be difficult to understand for those who do not know her.

Then there's the blue motorized wheelchair that could be off-putting for some.

Even so, Kelly O'Neil has made a positive impact on students at Richey Elementary School, despite her cerebral palsy. She was recently named Pasco County Adult Volunteer of the Year.

There's the freckle-faced kid who's making great progress in her math and reading skills and the student who struggles while reading The Little Red Hen. There's the fifth-grader who rambles on a mile a minute and the one in fourth grade who doesn't talk at all.

They are part of John Yerke's exceptional student education class.

Yerke and others say something special happens when O'Neil, 34, shows up on Mondays and Tuesdays to listen to kids read or to read to the ones who can't.

"My kids - they're all disabled, too - emotionally," he said. "I think they can relate to that - to her. You sense communication going on.

"It's hard to explain," Yerke said.

Maybe it has something to do with her smile.

* * *

"She's just such a bright personality," said John Wright, a Hudson High student who works in the office at Richey as part of a school-to-work program. "Every time she comes in here she's always smiling."

"I like to see her because she's my friend," said fifth-grader Cyndy Lang. "She's always friendly and always happy. And she's pretty, too."

She's also an inspiration to those who know her struggle to overcome a tragic accident that happened 32 years ago and left her permanently disabled.

"It's like she has cerebral palsy but she doesn't have cerebral palsy," said O'Neil's mom, Dale Biagiotti. Her daughter was just 22 months old when she fell into a freshwater pond and nearly drowned in Plymouth, Mass.

Although most people who have cerebral palsy are born with it, a small number, like O'Neil, have the disease as the result of an accident in early childhood. "She shouldn't be here. She's a miracle. She really shouldn't have come out of it. Most kids don't or they end up in a coma or just lying in a bed the rest of their lives."

But not O'Neil.

"The doctors, nurses say she's broken all records," Biagiotti said. "She's had surgeries, physical therapy. She has come full circle. She's independent. She's worked hard to get there."

* * *

Her tenacity may be rubbing off on others.

"She's just a great influence in our school, not just for the kids but for us, too," said volunteer coordinator Kim Stratman, who nominated O'Neil for the volunteer of the year award.

O'Neil will be honored, along with senior volunteer Millie Pagani and youth volunteer Katelynn Tucker, at a School Board meeting Feb. 6.

O'Neil, who previously volunteered at Northwest Elementary School, said she started volunteering in the media center at Richey about 2 1/2 years ago.

"Then they asked if I wanted to move up to the classroom," she said. "It was sink or swim and I'm swimming."

"She really loves the children," said Biagiotti. "This has given her a real boost to know there's something she can do. She's got something to give and there's people that need that. She's really, really lucky."

As for the award, "Well, that's nice," said O'Neil. "But it's really just extra."

"These kids are not just school kids, they're my kids too," she said. "The way I look at it, they're like little doses of medicine. They bring something different to your life."

[Last modified January 24, 2007, 22:54:50]