Vaughan Regional Medical Center volunteer Rebecca "Becky" Massey has been a hospital volunteer for 15 years. When she's not volunteering, Massey said she enjoys spending time on the computer. -- Desiree Taylor

Movie star the late Christopher Reeve once said, “a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” And for Vaughan Regional Medical Center volunteer Rebecca “Becky” Massey, this is certainly true.

Born with Spina bifida, a birth defect in which the backbone and spinal canal don’t close before birth, Massey has never let her condition be an obstacle or get her down.

“I was never discouraged,” Massey said smiling. “I don’t worry about my handicap, I just go.”

Massey, who volunteers every Tuesday, started with the hospital at its former location some 15 years ago.

“I work in the lobby,” Massey said. “I help people when they come in — show them where to go, tell people where rooms are when they come to see patients. I do work from (my) wheelchair. I go out and around (the) hospital in my wheelchair — go wherever I need to go.”

Before coming to the hospital, Massey worked at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library and the West Central Alabama Rehabilitation Center.

Massey said it’s the people that make her job enjoyable.

“I like helping people (and) I like helping people because I care,” Massey said. “I feel like I enjoy it and (that) I’m doing it for the Lord.”

In her spare time, Massey said she enjoys going to church and spending time on the computer, especially browsing Facebook.

“I’m a member of Westwood Baptist Church,” Massey said. “In the summertime, I help with Bible school with kids — fourth and fifth grade and kindergarten.”

Massey, who lives with her parents Dorothy and Clodis, has one sister Patricia, who resides in Georgia, and one brother David, who lives in South Carolina.