KANSAS CITY, Mo. — We first shared Chanedia Henderson's story two weeks ago when her family hosted a benefit concert to bring her daughter C’eria Lagrone home to Kansas City.
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Lagrone suffered four strokes and an aneurysm in September while in Jacksonville, Florida.
As of Friday, Nov. 3, Lagrone is finally home.
“[I’m] overjoyed,” Henderson said. “I’m so excited. I can sleep at night knowing she’s home.”
After months of sharing Lagrone's story, Henderson said the family finally raised the amount necessary for Lagrone's return.
“When we saw the GoFundMe go up to $17,000, we were like, ‘Okay, now we’re ready,’" she said.
Initially, the family planned to use Life Flight, which was expected to cost between $20,000 to $30,000, so they created a GoFundMe with the goal of raising $50,000.
But when Lagrone was able to come off a ventilator and breathe on her own, ground transportation became an option.
“Once the doctors in Jacksonville were saying, ‘Okay, she’s stable enough to be transported,’ then I just started reaching out to people,” Henderson said. “I felt like people weren’t moving fast enough for me, so I called transportation. I’m calling doctors and I’m calling everybody like, ‘Hey, what are we doing? Let’s get on the same page, let’s get a plan together.'"
From there, Henderson got the wheels turning on her daughter's homecoming. Part of the plan included having Lagrone's best friend, Carlotta Brass, fly to Jacksonville to ride back home in the medical van.
“[I] hopped on a plane, and I was there with her for about 24 hours before we got in the transport vehicle,” Brass said. “We just tried to keep in mind that she would do the same thing for all of us.”
The van, which one of the transport medics described as a "rolling hospital," was equipped with everything Lagrone needed to make the journey, including Brass.
“I always love, especially like today, seeing large groups of friends and family there to welcome and cheer people on when they’re coming back home from an incident like this,” said Erik Luna, transport medic.
About 20 hours after the van left Thursday evening from Jacksonville, it arrived at Select Specialty Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas.
“It was a very long ride, but the outcome was worth it,” Brass said.
Brass said despite the fact Lagrone cannot move her left side or speak fluently at the moment, everything about her personality is still recognizable.
“Her love and her silly side has persevered through all of this,” she said.
Lagrone and Brass were met with cheers and applause from their family and close friends upon return, as well as a digital audience, too. Henderson’s Facebook Live of the event garnered over 1,000 views and hundreds of likes and comments welcoming Lagrone back home to Kansas City.
“Support for C’eria comes from all angles,” Brass said. “She is not only just a great human being all the way around, but she has connections.”
From her church community to those who knew her from her mother's plays or the company she started to teach young girls confidence, called Pretty Camp, many close to her were quick to show support.
“Nobody thought we were going to be here, obviously, but I really thank Kansas City for stepping up,” Brass said.
In addition to those who know Lagrone, plenty of strangers were quick to step up, too.
“To just expect the unexpected is what I started saying,” Henderson said. “I said it before, it takes a village. And to me, the village is coming together, and it’s just an amazing thing to see.
The idea of having a village of support during hard times got Henderson thinking about what it would be like to endure this journey without such love.
“I can’t imagine somebody going through this alone,” Henderson said. “I’m sure there’s somebody out there that doesn’t have the support, and, you know, we were talking about it, and we want to be that support for other people.”
So, Henderson and her family plan to start the Cici Mission. They will collect donations to support other families going through similar situations who need financial, emotional or practical support.
“They can reach out to us and be like, ‘Oh, okay, I need help, show me what to do,’" she said. “We can start getting a GoFundMe together for them or maybe donate toward getting them home or help coordinate it.”
Henderson said she plans to start working on the Cici Mission within the next month.
In addition to leaving the original GoFundMe open for the Cici Mission, she said there are still future expenses Largone needs assistance with — car payments, hospital bills, medicine, etc.
But for now, Henderson plans to "spend time and love on my baby" as much as she can.
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