2010 Herald File Photo - - Bunlang Ly plays with special education teacher Missy Pusey in October 2010. She died in July following brain surgery.
The Herald Online
Published: Saturday, Nov. 05, 2011
ROCK HILL -- An amazing thing happened Friday at a school building in downtown Rock Hill.
A foundation was dedicated - a foundation that will help poor kids in York County get needed medications - in the name of a student who was not even an American citizen, and who never said a word in her 18 years of life.
The student was not just any student, though. She was Bunlang Ly, a Cambodian immigrant with such a severe learning disability that her mental age was that of a toddler.
At South Pointe High School, she was called "the girl in the window."
From that window of her classroom, Bunlang watched other students and became loved by all at South Pointe.
Inside the classroom for more than five years, Bunlang went from being a disruptive menace who bit to a child who was learning how to live and was progressing as much as someone so disabled could progress.
She inspired people.
However, a brain tumor eventually led to her death following surgery in July.
But her legacy lives on in the foundation.
When Bunlang turned 18 in October 2010, her Medicaid benefits ran out.
Many people - especially Dr. Martha Edwards, who has volunteered with the Early Learning Partnership of York County for six years and was instrumental in treating Bunlang - found donors of medical services and other ways to keep treatment going.
Her teacher at South Pointe, Missy Pusey, raised money to cover the cost of medicine and other expenses. Some money was used, but more than $17,000 remained after Bunlang's death.
"We knew right then that the best way to honor Bunlang and the generosity people showed to her would be to use that money for other children in similar circumstances," Pusey said.
Only when Bunlang's Medicaid benefits ran out did Pusey, and so many others, realize that children in a variety of circumstances - be it poverty or special needs or a combination of both - did not have the ability to get specialized medicines.
So the Early Learning Partnership - run through the Rock Hill school district and where Bunlang first received medical care at the partnership's free clinic - set up a fund to give away that money.
And hopefully, raise more and give away more.
"What Bunlang's situation showed so many of us is that there are children who do not fit into existing social services programs, for whatever reason," said Donna Wooldridge, executive director of the early learning partnership.
The foundation is the first of its kind in York County. It will be administered by the governing board of the Early Learning Partnership.
All the money came in from donations, after a story about Bunlang ran in The Herald in October 2010, when she turned 18.
Bunlang showed - and all those people in medicine and social work and schools helped her show - that a giving spirit could turn a child with no shot at a life into someone with the ability to smile.
Her teacher can think of no more special honor than for Bunlang's name to endure forever as a legacy to perseverance that assists other children.
"The life she lived, and what people did for her, will go on," Pusey said. "She inspired people, and others will benefit from that."
Andrew Dys 803-329-4065 adys@heraldonline.com
The Herald Online
Published: Saturday, Nov. 05, 2011
South Pointe student killed by brain tumor inspired charity to get medicine for children in need
By Andrew Dys, Columnist
By Andrew Dys, Columnist
ROCK HILL -- An amazing thing happened Friday at a school building in downtown Rock Hill.
A foundation was dedicated - a foundation that will help poor kids in York County get needed medications - in the name of a student who was not even an American citizen, and who never said a word in her 18 years of life.
The student was not just any student, though. She was Bunlang Ly, a Cambodian immigrant with such a severe learning disability that her mental age was that of a toddler.
At South Pointe High School, she was called "the girl in the window."
From that window of her classroom, Bunlang watched other students and became loved by all at South Pointe.
Inside the classroom for more than five years, Bunlang went from being a disruptive menace who bit to a child who was learning how to live and was progressing as much as someone so disabled could progress.
She inspired people.
However, a brain tumor eventually led to her death following surgery in July.
But her legacy lives on in the foundation.
When Bunlang turned 18 in October 2010, her Medicaid benefits ran out.
Many people - especially Dr. Martha Edwards, who has volunteered with the Early Learning Partnership of York County for six years and was instrumental in treating Bunlang - found donors of medical services and other ways to keep treatment going.
Her teacher at South Pointe, Missy Pusey, raised money to cover the cost of medicine and other expenses. Some money was used, but more than $17,000 remained after Bunlang's death.
"We knew right then that the best way to honor Bunlang and the generosity people showed to her would be to use that money for other children in similar circumstances," Pusey said.
Only when Bunlang's Medicaid benefits ran out did Pusey, and so many others, realize that children in a variety of circumstances - be it poverty or special needs or a combination of both - did not have the ability to get specialized medicines.
So the Early Learning Partnership - run through the Rock Hill school district and where Bunlang first received medical care at the partnership's free clinic - set up a fund to give away that money.
And hopefully, raise more and give away more.
"What Bunlang's situation showed so many of us is that there are children who do not fit into existing social services programs, for whatever reason," said Donna Wooldridge, executive director of the early learning partnership.
The foundation is the first of its kind in York County. It will be administered by the governing board of the Early Learning Partnership.
All the money came in from donations, after a story about Bunlang ran in The Herald in October 2010, when she turned 18.
Bunlang showed - and all those people in medicine and social work and schools helped her show - that a giving spirit could turn a child with no shot at a life into someone with the ability to smile.
Her teacher can think of no more special honor than for Bunlang's name to endure forever as a legacy to perseverance that assists other children.
"The life she lived, and what people did for her, will go on," Pusey said. "She inspired people, and others will benefit from that."
Andrew Dys 803-329-4065 adys@heraldonline.com
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