advertisement

Drive-by shooting victim from Rolling Meadows gets rehab help from friends

Liz Black of Rolling Meadows has graphic memories of the night last November when she learned her daughter, now 20, had been hit by gunfire while riding with friends in a car on the Northwest Side of Chicago.

"It was at 2 a.m.," Black recalls. "They told me my daughter had been shot, and that it was serious. When I got there a chaplain met us, and the doctors told me she had been shot in the worst possible place."

Her daughter, Chelsea, had been taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where she was admitted as Yazmine Doe, since medical personnel could not immediately find any identification. Once hospital officials found her wallet, they called her mother.

Within days, Chelsea underwent surgery to reroute her nerves and insert pins in her spine. Doctors told her mother she would be a quadriplegic, with no movement from her chest down.

Chelsea was a member of the Rolling Meadows High School class of 2015, and she played basketball, tennis and softball, and sang in the variety shows. She is being treated at a rehabilitation facility in Hinsdale that specializes in weaning patients off a ventilator.

  Chelsea Black, the victim of a drive-by shooting in November that has left her a quadriplegic, can use the internet with special technology controlled by her eye movements. Here she scrolls to a Facebook page with her mother, Liz Black. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com

Some of her former high school friends try to visit, but she mostly keeps in touch with the outside world through a specialized computer she operates with her eyes.

Doctors first told Chelsea she never would be able to breathe without a ventilator. She now is able to breathe on her own for short amounts of time, allowing her to speak softly.

"It's just so awful that no matter who you are or where you're from, that you're not safe from a drive-by shooting that could take your life or paralyze you at any moment," said Sue Dungan of Arlington Heights, whose daughter, Bridget, is a close friend of Chelsea's.

Dungan and her husband, Chris, and Chelsea's former tennis coach, Carol Martini of Arlington Heights, have established a trust fund for the family held by MB Financial Bank in Oak Brook, where supporters can donate to the family's needs.

They also are organizing fundraisers to rally community support, including a live performance by Michael Ingersoll of "Jersey Boys" and his wife, Angela, on June 11 at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, and a women's tennis tournament at Forest View Racquet Club.

"The family doesn't have a support network, so we're trying to do everything we can to help them," Martini said, adding details of the fundraisers are still being finalized.

Liz Black said Chelsea describes having tingling sensations in her arms and a burning feeling in her legs, giving them hope she may one day regain some movement.

Martini, who coached Chelsea in tennis and badminton, said she has her relative youth and athleticism going for her.

"I'm sure that fierce determination I saw in her as a tennis player is getting her through each day," Martini said. "I know she just wants to go home."

According to Liz Black, Chelsea, then 19, had gone to hang out with a friend from Chicago whom she had met when the girls lived in the same apartment complex in Arlington Heights.

  Chelsea Black, 20, a graduate of Rolling Meadows High School, was the victim of a drive-by shooting back in November that has left her a quadriplegic. She is rehabbing at RML Specialty Hospital in Hinsdale. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com

The two were riding with a third person in a car about 1 a.m. Nov. 4, a few blocks from The Brickyard shopping center in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, when four shots rang out. One bullet ripped through Chelsea's neck, tearing through her spinal cord and the nerves in her neck, and another hit her friend, an 18-year-old woman, in the abdomen, Chicago police said. The friend was also taken to Loyola, while the vehicle's third occupant was not injured.

Police said the circumstances of the shooting are not known, and no one has been charged. The investigation is ongoing, police said.

Liz Black has worked as a driver for the Pace Suburban Bus Service for the last 15 years. Her husband died of a drug overdose in 2010, and the family lives in a rented house in Rolling Meadows.

Liz Black dreams of one day bringing Chelsea home, but she would need to move to a place that is handicapped accessible and obtain a vehicle equipped to transport her daughter and her wheelchair.

"My daughter has always been headstrong and determined," Liz Black said. "She will get through this. There is no option other than to get through this."

One of Chelsea's dreams is to strengthen her voice and vocal chords enough to sing again. Back in high school, she was known for her singing and she even tried out for "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent."

Her mother remembers waiting in line with her for more than five hours with thousands of other potential singers, at Chicago's McCormick Place.

On the spur of the moment, Liz Black said, Chelsea chose the song she would sing: "My Heart Will Go On," from the movie "Titanic."

How to help

For information on upcoming fundraisers, email Joan Sellergren, special events coordinator at Metropolis, jsellergren@metropolisarts.com.

Monetary donations can be directed to: Chelsea Black Trust, MB Financial Bank N.A., Attention: Trust Department, 1400 Sixteenth St., Oak Brook, IL 60523.

For donations in a form other than a check, contact MB Financial at (630) 203-2742.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.