NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Jason McNair was given just a five percent chance of survival when he was hospitalized with COVID-19 in November of 2021.
Two days later, on Thanksgiving Day, he was placed in a medically induced coma and underwent a tracheotomy.
He remained in a coma for 50 days and spent two and a half years in hospitals and rehab facilities. The extended bed rest left him partially paralyzed, with limited use of his right leg and left hand. This led to a severe hip infection that required the removal of his right hip joint. But McNair never gave up, and he was finally discharged in June 2024.
Now home, McNair works as a substitute teacher in the North Tonawanda school system and volunteers at Terrace View Long-Term Care Facility. But with his mobility limited to a wheelchair, transportation has become a daily challenge.
“I have a paratransit card; they try their best, but it is unreliable,” McNair said. “I’ve had to wait outside in the wintertime…sometimes even the regular Metro buses don’t show up, and now you’re having to wait another hour."
McNair often drives his power chair more than 40 minutes to make it to church, along Niagara Falls Boulevard when sidewalks are inaccessible. In winter, even that isn’t possible.
That’s why his mother, Ellen DeLong, started a GoFundMe to help raise $10,000 to $15,000 for a down payment on a van that McNair can drive using hand controls.
“We’d like to get enough for a good down payment on his van,” she said. “It would lower his payments.”
McNair said he’s focused on rebuilding his career and reconnecting with his community.
“I have a new look on life, I’ve been given a second chance," he said.
