By Suzanne Monaghan

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A Delaware County woman has won the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation’s “Best Mom on Wheels” nationwide contest.    The competition honors women living with paralysis (see previous story).

Edna Escher-Gaston of Swarthmore, Pa. says she was shocked when she got the call telling her she was the winner.

“I just started to cry because, with the contest, all of the comments that I have received from people have been so humbling, and I’m just so honored,” she said.

Escher-Gaston has been in a wheelchair since 1981 when she was injured in a car crash.  At the time, she was newly divorced and had an eight-year-old daughter.

She went on to co-found Barrier Awareness of Delaware County, and was one of the initial supporters of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Gaston won high tech equipment to help with her mobility.