Columbia, SC (WLTX) - Driving a car is an act many people learn in their teens, and it's something one Midlands woman hopes to be able to do soon.
"I'm 33-years-old and I don't have a license," said Angel Heaven Lee. "I don't have a vehicle to drive and I crave that independence."
News19 introduced you to Lee in December 2011, a woman who was born with no arms and no legs who can been seen around the community volunteering for others.
"I had my hard times," remembers Lee, "you know, I got bullied, I got teased, I got picked on a lot. My parents raised me to not feel sorry for myself and not see myself as disabled and to just try."
Besides the obvious disabilities, Lee has a whole host of other medical conditions.
"I have asthma, I have IBS, I have tortuous colon, I have a list of things!"
But what she lacks in body she makes up for in character and personality.
"If I had fingers to count on I'd run out!"
Angel Heaven Lee is also a wife and a mother to a 14-year-old daughter.
"I always wanted to be a mom and I'm blessed enough to be able to be one now. I'm just like anybody else. I don't see myself as different. I just see myself as having clipped wings."
Lee is part of a national contest called Life Moving Forward, sponsored by the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association. Lee is in the running to win a custom wheelchair accessible van.
"Having a van that had a wheelchair lift and could possibly be modified for me? That would be just the icing on the cake!"
Currently the Lee family gets around in a borrowed car and to Angel, the van wouldn't be just a 'vehicle' but an opportunity.
"I feel like a prisoner in my own home sometimes and I want to be able to go out and do things that I enjoy, and things that I want to do, and things that I need to do."
"I could do more not just for the community but for my family and that to me is the most important. Being able to be the best mom, the best wife to my family."
In order to win Lee needs your votes! Voting ends May 13th and the contestants who have the top 10% of the votes will move forward to the next phase. There, judges will review their needs and stories and decide which three contestants will get their custom van.
To help the Angel Heaven Lee, click here. You can vote from one IP address per day.