. >> reporter: lynsie ekelund arrived on july 22nd, 1980. the youngest of three. maybe that fighting spirit isn't visible in her photos, but her mother nancy says it was always there. >> lynsie had a passion for animals. she helped out in her spare time at a local shelter. >> reporter: kim davidson, who worked at lynsie's middle school, remembers young lynsie also had a sense of compassion. >> we were standing outside and i was freezing cold, and i didn't bring a jacket that day. and i felt these little hands up on my shoulder and a sweater come up around me. and i turned around and it was lynsie. she said, "i just can't stand sitting here, watching you shiver." and just wrapped me up in her sweater. she just melted me. >> reporter: and lynsie gave back in other ways. her mother says she would lie about her age so she could give blood. remarkable in itself because lynsie struggled with her own disabilities. her left arm was paralyzed, her left leg impaired. did she ever talk about how she became disabled? >> she had brought it up to me and said that she was in a ca