'God works things out.' Foundation helps Jackson family get specialized van for 'Rissy'

JACKSON TWP. − Marvin and Lori Penrod made a decision nearly 20 years ago that changed their lives and saved someone else's.

The Penrods became "new" parents at a time when most couples are enjoying retirement.

It began with a work assignment for Lori Penrod, then a homecare and hospice nurse who took on the case of Marissa Anderegg, an 18-month-old in palliative care with Akron Children's Hospital.

Marissa was born in 2003 with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, a severe brain injury caused by a lack of blood and oxygen flow to the brain. She also has epilepsy.

"The cord was around her neck," Lori Penrod said. "She did not have paralysis. It's my understanding that that came later due to an incident. When I started taking care of her, her aunt had custody of her."

'I was there every day after that'

Penrod was reluctant at first.

"I told them, 'I don't take care of sick kids. I'll help you out for a night or two, that's it,'" she recalled. "I went the first time and that's it. I was there every day after that."

A few years later, the aunt suddenly passed away.

"The mom got her back and they asked me to stay on," she said. "People were afraid of her when she was a baby. I would sit on a stool beside her bed; I wouldn't even sit across the room from it. I sat right there with my hand on that rail because when she was a baby, her heart would just stop willy-nilly and you would have to stimulate her chest."

During her care, Penrod said, she could see the child's health was deteriorating. Those with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy have a short life expectancy.

"No matter how much you hope and how hard you wish, you just see things start to crumble and they got progressively worse and progressively worse," she said. "I started telling everybody if she ever needs a home, I'll take her. And it took like three years to get somebody to realize that I was serious, that I'd leave my job and bring her home."

After caring for Marissa for 10 years, Child Protective Services awarded the Penrods custody in 2015.

The Penrods: 'God works things out'

Marvin Penrod said there was never any hesitation to care for "Rissy."

"You know, God works things out," his wife said. "For months and months when I'd go to work, he'd call and make sure I got there. And I would always put the phone on speakerphone and lay it on the bed and say, 'Here, talk to Rissy.' And I started referring to him as 'Uncle Marvin' to her. So every day he talked to her for a long time before she came here and that really helped because she didn't know him per se, but she knew the voice."

The Penrods, who met as teenagers in Chillicothe, have been married for 55 years. They have two adult children and are great-great-grandparents.

At the time they took custody of Marissa, Marvin Penrod was retired from truck driving.

Lori Penrod said having guardianship of Marissa, now 20, was an answer to a prayer.

"I was always taught that you don't question; you let God have his will and you don't question," she said.

She's a gardener and a baker

Caring for Marissa is a full-time labor of love for the Penrods. Marissa is nonverbal and relies on a feeding tube, a ventilator and a wheelchair.

Making it easier: New wheelchair-accessible path opens at Beech Creek Botanical Garden

Marissa also takes speech, physical and occupational therapy.

"In the summer, we learned by accident one day that she likes the feeling of dirt," Lori Penrod said. "So, I started getting little pots. We put seeds in them and I talked to her about it and it turned into a whole big container garden. Now every summer, she grows everything from strawberries to potatoes out there. She also likes to mess around in the kitchen, so I'll take her in there when I'm doing dinner, and I help her stir things."

In addition to therapy, Marissa is tutored once a week by Stephanie Snee, a teacher at Jackson High School.

"I came over and instantly fell in love with Marissa and Lori and Marvin," Snee said. "We just made this instant connection and I thought this is really going to work."

In addition to teaching, Snee also serves on the board of the Canton chapter of the Foundation for Community Betterment, a nonprofit that assists local families with their needs.

In conversations with the Penrods, Snee learned that whenever the Penrods, now 76 and 73, took Marissa to doctors' appointments or to Leesville Lake, they had to lift her out of her wheelchair, place her in a car seat, then disassemble the chair and load it into their vehicle.

Snee broached the topic of the foundation helping them acquire a wheelchair-accessible van.

"I really thought, you know, it's got to be very hard on them," she said. "I mean, lifting my own kids into the car seat hurts my back and I thought, you know, they have just given so much to provide her with a fantastic life. There's got to be a way that I can help."

Snee said that once the foundation accepted her proposal, the board set about fundraising by hosting a Monte Carlo night last October, raising $14,000.

However, the effort hit a roadblock: The money covered only half the cost of a wheelchair-accessible van, coupled by a shortage of such vehicles because of the United Auto Workers strike.

Great Lakes Auto Group steps up

"The only dealership that was really willing to work with us was Great Lakes Honda," Snee said, adding that the Community Betterment's local and national boards granted an additional $5,000.

Great Lakes Auto Group's Joey Huang not only worked with them, Snee said, he donated the outstanding balance to purchase the 2017 Dodge Caravan.

Lori Penrod is deeply grateful for everyone's help. She made of postcard of Marissa sitting on the ramp of the van and mailed it to Huang.

"I told him, 'Please meet Marissa,'" she said. "I know he probably gives money away like that all the time, but I wanted him to understand its impact."

After the van arrived shortly before Christmas, the family's first outing was a shopping trip to Target.

"She's 20 years old and she'd never been inside a store in her life," Lori Penrod said. "Up until this point, it's always been showing her things on my phone."

Though Marissa can't physically attend school, she participates in Jackson High's horticultural program, including the annual spring plant sale and holiday craft show.

Jackson HS has an award-winning program: Jackson students medal at Ohio High School Landscape Olympics

"What I want everybody to know, because I really worry about it, because it matters to me, is that we say thank you," Lori Penrod said. "We've tried to thank everybody with written notes and everything but I worry about the people that may have fallen through the cracks."

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Marissa 'Rissy' Anderegg receives wheelchair-accessible van in Jackson