Holding onto hope: Wheelchair-bound Wyoming County woman in need of help with bridge

AMIGO, W.Va. (WVVA) - A Wyoming County family is holding onto hope that someone might be able to help fix their broken bridge. The Amigo homeowner, Katherine Whitt, has been wheelchair bound for the last four years and needs to get out every other week for treatments at the Beckley Cancer Center.

She lives in the home with her son, daughter-in-law, and two small grandchildren. For years, the family traversed the bridge by car. But after spending thousands to lay new boards and beams last year, they learned the support steel beam had slipped.

“It’s very frustrating. Nobody knows what I go through,” Katherine Whitt explained.

When the water is too high to take the truck across the river for treatments, her daughter-in-law, Chrstine Whitt, has to push her across the wobbly bridge.

“It’s so scary. You make one wrong move and the wheelchair goes off. The whole time I’m taking her across I say please Lord don’t let me drop her,” explained Whitt, who manages the task each week while managing two small children.

She fears for her mother-in-law’s safety, but also her children. “Yesterday, I froze in the middle of the bridge, and I told me husband, please come get your son, I can’t do this. I had to stand there for a good five minutes.”

The family explained that the bridge is private property and does not fall under the state’s responsibility. Still, they are hopeful that someone, somewhere will help move the steel and fix the abutment.

“It would be wonderful. I pray that somebody does.”

WVVA News has reached out to a number of organizations in hopes of finding the Whitt family a solution. Stay with WVVA News for the latest on this developing story.

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