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Northumberland man receives special gift of transportation

Thanks to the kindness of two strangers, a man from Northumberland is behind the wheel once again.

NORTHUMBERLAND, Pa. — It's been a rocky road for 32-year-old Travis Solomon of Northumberland since he severed his spinal cord in a car accident in 2007. It's been tough for him to hold a job.

"I'd say about 2010 to 2019, I was in a hospital or a nursing home more than I was at my house," Travis said.

Travis has tried to buy a car in the past, but without a job, it's been hard.

"Every time I applied for a loan to get a car, they kind of just laughed at me. I wasn't really making enough money for anyone to take me seriously. I could never afford one," Travis said.

That's where Terry Sturgis of Douglassville in Berks County comes in. Terry recently bought a new vehicle at Hawkins Chevrolet near Danville to replace his 2012 Chevy Impala. Terry also has a spinal cord injury and drives with hand controls.

"I couldn't just sell the car because those would get ripped out, and to me, that would be a travesty. So I decided, you know what? We're not talking a lot of money here, I'm not Oprah, but it's a chance to do something good for somebody," Terry said.

Terry posted about the car on Facebook, and it got a lot of interest. One person stood out.

"Travis's brother emailed me, and it's like perfect," Terry said.

Terry decided to gift this car to Travis, someone he had never met until this day.

"I can't even, it's not fully cooperating in my head yet," Travis said.

Sales consultant Josh Andress even got it on it. He paid for the tags and transfer fees.

"I sold Terry his Tahoe, and it's basically a wash from what I made on the Tahoe from what I'm paying out, so it's like it never happened," Andress said.

"Oh, it's just fantastic. I can't express it. You only get so many chances to do something good for somebody once," Terry said.

The best part of the day was watching Travis drive off in his new car.

"There's a lot of nice people in the world, but not a lot of good things happen to certain people. This is the best thing that's happened to me in a while, so I really appreciate it," Travis said.

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