A Valley fifth grader is fighting a tough battle.

First, he had trouble walking. Now, he’s a person who uses a wheelchair.

He and his mom are raising money to make his life more accessible. 

For now, it’s challenging, and potentially dangerous, every time Cole tries to get in and out of the car.

“He will say he is OK, and I can see his legs shaking. That’s one thing that really moves me, is he has a strong will to keep moving,” said Crysta Hough, Cole’s mom.

Crysta says three years ago, her son’s leg had a pain. They learned he had Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

“It’s a genetic disorder that attacks his muscles, legs and lower extremities,” she said.

They got him a powered wheelchair. It stretches his core and his legs, but getting it in and out is hard.

Something that brings Cole joy is going to school.

“It’s fun to learn about new things,” Cole said.

But, going to school becomes harder every day.

“We are coping with our day-to-day lives as much as we can,” his mom said.

This year, they were picked by the Jett Foundation to raise funds for a wheelchair accessible van.

They’re expensive.

If Cole raises half the money, the foundation picks up the rest and gifts the van. 

So far, they’ve raised $12,000. They need $32,000.

“It would be a blessing. It would be the biggest thing, the biggest accomplishment for him,” Crysta said.

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“It’s really not a want for these families,” Alexa Tinsley with Jett Foundation said. “It’s an absolute need.”

It can be life changing.

“Access medical care, access doctor appointments, and then also, you know, do things as a family and get children and adults out of the house as well,” Tinsley said.

Coal has goals he wants to achieve, and a van would make them possible.

“I want to help him achieve his goals, but like I said, with public transportation, that’s not always the case,” Crysta said.

The young boy says it would change everything if they had a van.

“I would be able to do after-school stuff and before-school stuff easier. All of that would make it so much easier,” he said.

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – While the 1864 abortion ban has been repealed in Arizona, there’s another abortion ban that is currently the law in the Grand Canyon state.

It bans abortions due to any genetic abnormalities, no matter the stage a woman is at in her pregnancy.

“Arizona, even in the absence of, you know, the 1864 ban, it has very, very strict abortion laws on the books,” said Jessica Sklarsky, senior staff attorney in U.S. litigation, Center for Reproductive Rights.

Arizona passed a law in 2021 banning abortions solely based on the genetic makeup of a fetus or embryo, and the court did not challenge that law.

“That law is fully applicable today and it should be fully applicable moving forward. And that’s a good thing because life is a human right, and every human life is worth protecting,” said Jake warner, senior counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom.

However, the law was passed before Roe v. Wade was overturned, causing pro-choice organizations to challenge the law in court.

“In this case, we do challenge, we refer to it as, as the Reason Scheme because it’s really a whole suite of laws that were intended to make it impossible for somebody who may have, who may have a suspected or diagnosis of a fetal condition, make it impossible for them to obtain abortion care,” Sklarsky said.

Over the past three years, they have continued their fight in the Isaccson v. Mayes case.

There’s been a lot of back and forth, not just due to Roe being overturned, but the 1864 abortion ban taking a front-row seat in the abortion fight.

Attorney General Kris Mayes also said she wouldn’t enforce or defend the law in court, but a few Arizona legislators decided to defend it.

The fight is far from over, and Sklarsky said the Center for Reproductive Rights will continue to fight the case.

“Regardless of the repeal going through the fight is going to continue,” Sklarsky said.

And Warner said the same for the ADF.

“We’re hopeful that the Arizona Supreme Court will allow Arizona law to protect unborn children as much as possible,” Warner said.

If a doctor were to be convicted under the law, they could lose their medical license, be sued by the father for medical damages, and even face jail time.

Sklarsky described the law as quote “unconstitutionally vague.”

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MESA, Ariz. — Audrey Ju met some of her best friends through hockey, knows someone at every rink she goes to and has become close with numerous families in the tight-knit community.

The Arizona Coyotes’ move to Utah raised questions about the future.

The Phoenix area teenager isn’t worried. The NHL may be leaving, but the youth hockey programs across Arizona are on steady ground.

“Most of the programs have a strong foundation,” she said. “If the Coyotes had to leave, obviously I’m sad about it, but the Kachinas (girls hockey program) are all set up and the other programs have been around for a while.”

Still, the Coyotes’ move has left a void in the Arizona hockey community.

Lyndsey Fry is trying to bridge the gap on the youth hockey side.

The 2014 Olympian has established the Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation, designed to support boys and girls hockey programs across the Phoenix area.

The nonprofit honors former Coyotes director of hockey development Matt Shott, who helped forge the foundation for Arizona youth hockey prior to his death in 2021, and will start with grant opportunities and programming. The foundation is expected to start taking donations this month and Fry hopes to eventually create a $10 million endowment that will provide roughly $500,000 a year to support youth hockey programs across the Phoenix area.

“There’s just a lot of uncertainty right now and people are going through a lot of emotions in the hockey community with the departure of the Coyotes going up to Utah,” said Fry, founder and director of the Arizona Kachinas girls hockey programs. “I think that the thing that’s of most concern for a lot of people is, OK, what happens to the growth of hockey here? It’s been exponential since the Coyotes came here in 1996 and we want to make sure that that doesn’t slow down.”

Youth hockey in Arizona has been on the upswing since the Coyotes’ arrival, climbing from 4,949 players registered with USA Hockey in 2002-03 to 9,716 last year. The number of ice rinks in Arizona has increased from two to nine, including seven in the Phoenix area.

The state has produced numerous NHL players, most notably Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews, who was born in California but grew up playing hockey in Arizona.

The Shott Foundation aims to keep that pipeline open.

When the Coyotes were still in Arizona, the NHL supported youth hockey in the state through the industry growth fund, which provided about $500,000 a year.

The Coyotes franchise can be reactivated — via NHL expansion — by owner Alex Meruelo if a new arena is built within the next five years, but it’s unclear if the league will continue the flow of money in the state through the IGF. Meruelo said at the Coyotes’ going-away news conference that he intends to continue supporting youth hockey in Arizona until the franchise is reactivated.

    Lyndsey Fry coaches during an Arizona Kachinas hockey practice at Arizona Made Ice Forum in Mesa, Ariz., May 1, 2024. The 2014 Olympian has created the Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation to support boys and girls hockey programs after the Arizona Coyotes moved to Utah. (AP Photo/John Marshall)
  

    Lyndsey Fry coaches during an Arizona Kachinas hockey practice at Arizona Made Ice Forum in Mesa, Ariz., May 1, 2024. The 2014 Olympian has created the Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation to support boys and girls hockey programs after the Arizona Coyotes moved to Utah. (AP Photo/John Marshall)