Faith, family, and a fighting spirit – These are the pillars that allowed Slyvia Griffin to preserve even through the toughest of times.
Slyvia, a local Las Vegas grandmother and veteran, had her life forever altered in 2016.
She had been working the night shift at her job, as she normally did, but the next thing she remembered, she was waking up in the hospital struggling to stay conscious. The doctor came back and delivered the news: she had suffered a heart attack.
Tragedy struck soon after, again. While receiving heart attack treatment in the hospital, she was administered a medication that caused an allergic reaction – one with devasting effects.
“I ended up losing my legs and fingers,” said Slyvia.
Throughout her entire healing process, her husband, Lamont, was by her side. “It’s very scary to have your best friend [go through that],” he said tearfully. “You can’t do anything to help her out but be there for her.”
Slyvia’s fighting spirit never flickered, though. During recovery, she worked with a prosthetist to relearn how to walk. “I learned how to take a couple of steps,” she said. “But, maybe a week later, both my legs went paralyzed. That took away earning how to walk on prosthetics.”
Though her situation looked bleak at times, Slyvia never gave up.
It’s now been years since the incident that left her paralyzed, but Slyvia’s health condition requires consistent care and doctor’s appointments. For her family, this posed no problem until they started to have car troubles that were jeopardizing Sylvia’s health.
That’s when Lamont decided to share Slyvia’s journey with the Surprise Squad.
When her story reached Don Forman, owner of United Nissan, he felt touched by her resilience and knew he needed to do something for her.
“She was the most positive person in the world,” said Forman. “It makes you sit back and appreciate the beauty of life more.”
On the day of the surprise, Forman has the opportunity of handing Slyvia her gift. Inside the small red box was a $5000 check.
“But there’s more,” Forman told Slyvia.
Along with the check, he informed her that United Nissan would pay off her $3,000 Title Loan, as well as repair her van.
“She did make me cry, she was amazing,” said Forman. “And what a support staff her husband is. Health issues take a lot of effort, and he does it with a smile and attitude of gratitude.”
The FOX5 Surprise Squad has been sharing random acts of kindness with the Las Vegas community since 2013. Today, the group has aired over 500 episodes with videos reaching millions of people across the world, inspiring them to follow in their footsteps.
“It has been an amazing way to connect with the community,” said Forman.
United Nissan is proud to be a sponsor of the FOX5 Surprise Squad. To see a full playlist of past episodes, visit our YouTube channel here.
