Lloyd and Hopkins anointed the gurney with oil and prayed over it.

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) Last week News 10 introduced 28-year-old Deangela Celestine, a single mother of seven who was shot several times by her ex-boyfriend before he killed himself. Now she is paralyzed from the waist down. A local church is stepping up to make life more livable for a mother who once did everything for her children and now needs help.

“When I heard about it, I knew that I could kind of help in some way,” Randy Hopkins said. “They said that she was bedridden, paralyzed from the waist down. I had something that I had got for my wife. It’s called a shower gurney and what it's for a person that's bedridden and what you do is you can give her a comfortable shower instead of just a wash-off.”

Hopkins explained how the shower gurney has special meaning to him.

“I purchased it, and to tell you the truth, my wife passed away with pancreatic cancer and 2 to 3 weeks maybe before I could even use it," Hopkins said. "She passed, and I never got a chance to use it. So I've been having it in the corner for about four years. I tried to sell it multiple times, but that's not what God showed me. I kept it in the house for four years up until now.”

“We have had a passion for our community," Bishop Larry J. Lloyd of Spirit of Liberty Christian Fellowship said. "We had heard about a number of gun violence activities in our community and we heard about the shooting of Ms. Deangela Celestine.”

It was through one of the members in the leader's meetings who shared Celestine’s story about the shooting.

“We felt as a church that we wanted to do something to reach out to the family,” Lloyd said.

“I'd like to bless the family with it," Hopkins said. "I'm not charging anything. I'm giving it to them. Whatever it takes to get it to them. I would like to try to do that.”

Lloyd and Hopkins anointed the gurney with oil and prayed over it.

“We ask now that God would bless this equipment, we pray that the healing virtue of Jesus Christ would be manifested in the life and body of Ms. Deangela Celestine," Lloyd prayed. "As we dedicate this equipment, we pray for her complete healing and recovery and as we lay hands on this equipment, we pray that it will be used for the glory of God and for the service of the family of Ms. Deangela Celestine. We pray this now in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

“The Scripture tells us in James 1:17, that every good and perfect gift comes from God and so we want to dedicate this gift,” Lloyd continued.

“I’m very appreciative, of the shower gurney that I'm going to receive because at the moment I'm not receiving a lot of care and the outpatient part and it’s going to mean a lot that I’ll be about to use it and it’s going to help my family members with getting me in and out of tub," Celestine said.

Hopkins said Sunday after church service they will give Celestine with the shower gurney. The family still needs much help with finding a physical therapist, mentors for the children and housing. If you would like to help, the family has set up a GoFundMe account.

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