After two and a half years in a medical facility, an Elmont teen is back home.
Rescuing Families is a charity based on Long Island that made the home handicapped-accessible and coming home possible.
Kelly Arcillas, now 18, returned home from a vacation with her parents and sisters in 2019. That is when the then 16-year-old needed to be hospitalized due to a sudden illness.
Arcillas's parents say their daughter spent three months in a coma and was eventually diagnosed with autoimmune encephalitis.
Her mother says she has been praying for her daughter to be home since the first day she was hospitalized.
Arcillas came out of a coma and spent the past two and a half years in a hospital and nursing facility due to her disabilities.
The 18-year-old is paralyzed from the waist down, lost 90% of her vision, relies on a ventilator and gastronomy tube for food.
Rescuing Families spent five months renovating the bathroom, widening doorways, building a deck and a ramp for the outside and installing a door in the back of the home for easier access for Arcillas.
"We want their home to look like a home, so we make it look as beautiful as it is accessible," says Gina Centauro, of Rescuing Families.
The project was completely done by volunteers.