The Eaton fire took this 14-year-old’s wheelchair. But not the will to get back his mobility

It was hard enough that Xavier Young not only lost his home and much of his school in the Eaton fire.

But that wasn’t all.

The fire consumed a piece of equipment that the Eliot Arts Magnet Academy student relied on every day: his wheelchair.

A wheelchair is vital for the 14-year-old, who at 18 months old was diagnosed with Batten disease, a group of genetic conditions that lead to seizures and spasticity of the muscles. But his mother, Courtney Levingston, said her son mostly needs the wheelchair because one of his legs is longer than the other. He can’t stand for long periods of time without his legs getting tired.

To be sure, in the aftermath of the catastrophic blaze, the 14-year-old and his family and teachers found ways to adjust.

But not having his usual wheelchair made it difficult for his parents to get Young from the parking garage of their apartment complex in Pasadena – where they were forced after the fire — all the way to their one-bedroom on the second floor.

For months after the fire, Young relied on a blue wheelchair that was donated by a friend of his mother. And while she expressed her gratitude for the chair, amid the challenges of a new home and school, it didn’t fully meet his needs.

In time, the foot rests came off, leaving Young’s feet to drag on the floor. It wasn’t crash-tested for safety or designed to go on unsteadier surfaces, like grass. It couldn’t fold up and be transported with him on the school bus or in his parents’ car, so he had to leave it overnight at school.

Daily tasks like going to the grocery store became a burden for Young’s parents.

As Arielle Tinero-Felman, Young’s teacher of three years, put it: “it worked until it didn’t.”

But that all changed when Sherri Szabo, a physical therapist within the Pasadena Unified School District who works with Young, was notified by a colleague about the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers’ Charities and the Exceptional Children’s Foundation.

The two charities were seeking families that lost vital medical equipment in the Eaton and Palisades fire.

After working with Young and his family for a number of years, and understanding the hardships they went through after the fire, she knew he would be the right fit.

On Sept. 22, members of the two charity organizations gifted Young a custom wheelchair replacement in front of his temporary school site at McKinley School of the Arts, which took him and other displaced Eliot Arts students and staff in after their campus was partially destroyed in the Eaton fire.

Young quite literally leaped into his new wheelchair.

The wheelchair is valued at around $10,000 and specifically designed to fit Young’s specific needs, like safe transportation onto school buses. Szabo said she worked with Mobility Solutions to get Young measured for his new wheelchair.

“It was just a moment of excitement for him and realization that ‘oh, I got a new chair!’” said Levingston.

Now, Tinero-Felman said, Young is free to go wherever he needs.

“My baby, if he didn’t have the wheelchair, if he wasn’t able to access a wheelchair again, he would go through life in pain, because his legs are going to get tired, it’s going to throw off his mobility, he would have back pain, nerve-ending pain. And it would be very painful for him,” Levingston said.

His condition causes him to lose the ability to communicate verbally, but that doesn’t stop him from conveying his emotions through facial expressions and high-fives.

Two weeks after receiving the donation, Young was smiling ear-to-ear in his new wheelchair, going about his normal Monday morning routine.

On Monday, that means class time, physical education, band practice, nutrition break, lunch, then, the bus home. And he made it known through his bubbling excitement and big smile that like many students, nutrition — which consists of a daily snack break — is his favorite part of the day.

Now, Young has somewhere to rest his feet so they don’t drag. As he grows taller, he can adjust the wheelchair’s height.

He loves amusement parks and Dave and Buster’s, so he can be with other kids, instead of always sitting with his parents.

His aide, Jacob Pinedo, and substitute aide, Humberto Rebollo, are able to seamlessly take Young all around the McKinley campus, whether that’s the classroom, the gym, or the playground. And on a potentially rainy morning like on Monday, he won’t have to worry about his headrest soaking up water.

Having that consistency was not only important for Young’s mobility needs, but also for his and other students’ social and emotional needs after the fire. That’s why Tinero-Felman even tried to recreate her Eliot classroom with every detail, buying the same banners and decorations to put up in their new location.

“The fires hit the special needs community especially hard,” said ECF’s Chief Development Officer Maxine Moshay, whose organization provides services for those with special needs. “They lost vital equipment, including specialized wheelchairs like this, that are essential for mobility and independence.”

The impact of the wildfires on those with disabilities have come into the spotlight in recent months, especially after it was found that two homebound disabled men, a father and his son, died while awaiting rescue from the Eaton fire.

Several nursing homes and assisted-living facilities with disabled patients were forced to evacuate to nearby evacuation centers without the critical care and medical supplies they required.

Memories of that terrible week in January are not far away. But neither is a sense of resilience.

When the Eaton fire broke out, Young’s family rushed out of their home, leaving his wheelchair behind.

In the immediate aftermath of the fire, Young was using a patient’s wheelchair from the nursing home where his mother worked.

Still, even amid the chaos and confusion of those initial days after the fire, Young’s supporters and advocates were looking forward to a day when he would have his own wheelchair, one that he could grow with.

Tinero-Felman called Young’s mother one day, promising her: “I know it’s going to take us a while… but we’re going to get a new chair for him.”

The donation to Young is part of the LATLC’s $100,000 fire relief campaign to support first-responders, schools and families impacted by the Eaton and Palisades wildfires.

“Partnering with Exceptional Children’s Foundation allows us to do more than provide emergency aid—we can help children like Xavier regain their independence and move forward,” said Megan Klein, 2025 president of LATLC.

LATLC reached out to 152 charities, including ECF, to restore independence for Young and others like him by replacing lost vital medical equipment.

Levingston said that receiving the wheelchair has opened up new possibilities for her son, and opens up the ability to take him anywhere.

“For him, the chair is everything, because the chair is literally his legs,” she said.

Julianna Lozada is a correspondent with the Southern California News Group.