Fundraising in several communities to help Edward Little High School guidance counselor Heidi Conn has raised nearly $19,000, her friend, Candy Gleason, said Friday.

Conn, who celebrated her 56th birthday Thursday, was paralyzed from the chest down in March from unusual internal bleeding in her spinal column, caused by the medication Coumadin, Gleason said. Conn is married to Doug Conn, the athletic director at Leavitt Area High School in Turner. The couple live in Turner.

Since Conn was paralyzed, the Auburn and Turner school communities have hosted numerous events to raise money to help, including silent auctions, sporting events and a gala magic show at Leavitt.

All of the donations “have been overwhelming as I try to wrap my head around when bad things happen to good people,” Conn said. All the giving “is mind blowing,” she said. It shows “the connectedness of the community, the wonderful spirit that we just don’t normally see.”

Money raised will help buy expensive items to help her become independent, things not covered by insurance, such as a small van with a wheelchair lift, a standing frame that allows her to stand upright and work out her upper body, a bed she can get into from her wheelchair.

The acts of kindness number in the hundreds, Conn said. She’s received more than 200 cards, many well wishes on her “Heidi Help” Facebook page. Hundreds have donated money, many have donated time and supplies.

“It makes me cry when I think about it,” Conn said.

One example are volunteers who built a 50-foot-long wheelchair ramp at her home. “It’s work for me to get up that ramp, but I could not get into my house without it,” Conn said. She compares her friends building it to an old-fashioned barn raising.

Volunteers just finished renovating the family’s first-floor bathroom, making it wheelchair friendly. Doors were widened, the toilet was moved, the shower reconfigured. “The bathroom now has a shower I can use,” she said.

One of her goals is to drive herself. Another is to return to work.

She misses her students. At Edward Little she had 250 assigned to her, including 60 seniors. “All of my seniors graduated.”

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