Yahoo Sports has an article today titled “Kobe stories: 10 everyday people whose lives were touched by Kobe Bryant” and one includes a connection to Conshohocken.

Here is the first part of the story (a link to the full story is below).

Twelve years ago, a representative for Kobe Bryant reached out to Scott Charles with a request.

When the Lakers next played in his hometown of Philadelphia, Kobe wanted to do something to help a family that had been impacted by gun violence. 

Charles, the trauma outreach coordinator for Temple University Hospital, recommended a young single mother of two whose life had been in disarray since a bullet tore through her femoral artery in August 2006. Her left leg had to be amputated at the hip. Her right leg below the knee. Doctors managed to save her arms, but so much of the muscle had to be removed that she could barely feed herself or use the bathroom alone. 

What Chinika Perez needed most at the time was a wheelchair-accessible van that would help her get around and regain some of her lost independence. On Kobe’s behalf, Charles reached out to the owners of Conicelli Autoplex in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, for help locating and purchasing the wheelchair van. 

Read the full story here (its the second one).

Photo: Los Angles Lakers