For years, Shari Clark hasn’t let big things set her back.

Since being paralyzed from the mid-back down in a car crash in 1988, she’s had a son and started a business.

In the words of Clark’s friend Elaine Myer: “Don’t let the wheelchair fool you.”

But when Clark’s car – equipped with thousands of dollars of equipment that allows her to drive – was stolen from her driveway in December, that was a different kind of setback. The car turned up late last month a half-mile from Clark’s house, where a neighbor found it. It had been ransacked and trashed; dented and scratched, not much could be salvaged.

When Myer checked out the car in an impound lot, it was a disgusting sight, she said. “I didn’t take pictures,” Myer said. “It would have broken her heart.”

Clark’s friends turned Valentine’s Day into a fundraiser to get her a new car, which requires a special lift and hand controls so Clark can drive. Replacing the car is no small financial feat – with insurance covering at least $7,000, Clark estimates a used car with a handicap lift will cost her around $29,000. And that’s without a few more special gadgets, all of which could cost thousands more.

But surrounded by friends Sunday at Legends Bar on Hancock Expressway, Clark was upbeat. Wearing a festive red sweater, from her wheelchair she greeted new arrivals. She and Myer swapped bizarre stories about what had been taken from her car.

“They took a $12 blanket but left my $400 stereo,” Clark said.

Clark moved to Colorado Springs in 1988 to help a boss open a bar downtown. Six months later, she was in a car crash. While her life changed forever, it did not stop. Her son, now 18, was born 10 years after the crash. Clark became a massage therapist and now owns Mystic Mermaid Massage. Her skills are lauded by friends and clients.

“It’s more like a healing experience than a massage,” said friend and client Michele McCann, who organized the fundraiser.

As of Sunday afternoon, the group was making modest gains through a gofundme.com site, and McCann guessed they had raised more than $2,000. At least $1,000 came from Clark’s old boss, who texted to wish her a happy Valentine’ Day just before Clark learned of the donation.

Donations can be made on this site: https://www.gofundme.com/f9fe4zy8

Just a few weeks before Christmas, Shari Clark had her specially equipped van stolen from her driveway. One of her friends found it in an impound lot, but it was so trashed it is no longer usable to her. Clark is paraplegic and has her own business as a massage therapist, but her insurance doesn’t cover replacement of the van. Many of her friends and clients held a Valentine’s Day fundraiser for her at Legends Rock Bar to show her their love and help to raise money for a van on Sunday, February 14, 2016. Photo by Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE