Donating late son’s medical equipment brings mother solace

By JAMIE STENGLE
Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) — After Itza Pantoja’s severely disabled son died at the age of 16, she made it her mission to make sure that the wheelchairs, beds and other equipment and supplies that had helped him got to other people who needed them. After struggling to find an organization to take the large donation, she and her family packed up a U-Haul and drove the 1,240 miles from San Antonio to Chicago last year when they got word that a group there would take it. Pantoja says that helping families who are going through what they went through “kind of soothes us.”