Getting a driver's license and a vehicle is a rite of passage for teens. These are symbols of freedom and the beginning of adult responsibilities.

For 18-year-old Onset resident DaLiza Cardoza, that rite of passage seemed like it would never come.

"I had no preconceived notions of my first car," Cardoza said.

Cardoza was born with spinal muscular atrophy type 3, a form of muscular dystrophy. The disease causes severe muscle weakness due to the degeneration of certain cells on the spinal cord. She has been confined to a wheelchair since age 7.

But Cardoza hasn't let any obstacle in life - including spinal surgery and illnesses resulting from her weak immune system - slow her down.

The bright, bubbly teen graduated from Wareham High School in June and obtained dean's list grades throughout her senior year. She participated in a myriad of clubs - including the Multicultural Club's step and dance club. She tutored younger children and taught religion to sixth graders.

Cardoza will attend Bridgewater State College this fall. She plans to major in chemistry and eventually attend Tufts Medical School for analytical or pharmaceutical chemistry. She said she hopes to find cures for uncommon, degenerative diseases.

There was just one problem. She didn't have a car to get to school.

Cardoza's mother has a wheelchair-accessible van, but Cardoza isn't able to drive it herself. She can't even sit in the front of the vehicle because of the way it is configured.

"I just needed a car," Cardoza said. "I just hated having to have everyone driving me around all the time."

Cardoza's boyfriend of two years, Conrad Fernandes, has been teaching her how to drive. But he is able-bodied, so she couldn't operate his truck (which is also pretty big, she points out) on her own. Without a vehicle she could drive, it all seemed for naught.

A burning desire for independence led Cardoza late last year to e-mail 15 companies and individuals - even Oprah - asking if they could somehow help her obtain a vehicle she could operate on her own.

Accessible vehicles cost tens of thousands of dollars - a price out of reach for many people, let alone an 18-year-old student.

Cardoza received one response. It came from Patrick Brent, director of business development and marketing for Michigan-based Freedom Motors. The two exchanged e-mails regularly until a couple of months ago when the communication suddenly stopped.

Cardoza thought maybe Brent was just busy. She wondered: If he couldn't help, couldn't he have just said so?

What Cardoza didn't know was that Brent stopped contacting her and started contacting her mother, Kathy Martin.

Family members from Hawaii had donated a 2008 Honda Element to Freedom Motors, which had outfitted the vehicle, following the death of their mother. The mother had wanted the vehicle to go to someone who could really use it. After Brent told the family - which wished to remain anonymous - about Cardoza, the members agreed that she should receive their mother's vehicle.

The car was transported from California, where it had been transferred after its owner passed away, to Battle Creek, Michigan, where Freedom Motors outfitted the car specifically for Cardoza, adding an automatic ramp system she can operate on her own.

On Wednesday, July 6, the vehicle was brought to Wareham on a flat bed, where it was hidden at Cardoza's aunt's home in Shangri-La. On Saturday, Cardoza got the surprise of a lifetime.

Cardoza, Fernandes, and Cardoza's family were on their way to attend the Swan Festival on Merchants Way when they stopped at the basketball courts on Marion Road next to Town Hall. This was significant because Cardoza was just named an assistant coach for the Wareham Youth Basketball League. Fernandes serves as head coach.

Cardoza admits she was a little annoyed. She'd just finished coaching a game the night before and didn't know why she was there.

"I just wanted to get to the Swan Festival!" she said with a laugh.

But Cardoza said she knew something was happening. Her whole family was there and a man she didn't recognize - he turned out to be Brent - was standing next to a Honda Element in the parking lot.

Brent introduced himself and gave Cardoza the keys to her new ride.

Cardoza finally got the rite of passage so many teens look forward to. Her own transportation. Freedom.

The event was symbolic in more ways than one. It was also the date the family members who donated the vehicle chose to spread their mother's ashes into the Pacific Ocean.

"[Cardoza's] an amazing kid, there's no doubt about it," Brent said Monday, still thrilled he could help Cardoza. "Ultimately the vehicle came from the family. We just outfitted it."

Cardoza said she's still in shock.

"I had no clue," she said. "I didn't even know what to think. ... I still don't think it's hit me yet."

She was surprised to find that her mother and boyfriend had been keeping the big secret for more than six weeks. And in the last two weeks, even Cardoza's 6-year-old sister knew and didn't tell her.

"Once I got all the details, it just kind of fell into place," her mother said. "I don't think I would have changed anything!"

Perhaps the biggest shock was that Fernandes kept the secret. Cardoza said she and Fernandes have been best friends since grade four.

"I was just amazed," Cardoza said. "Usually we can't keep secrets from each other!"

Fernandes was happy to keep just this one secret. "They're just amazing people," he said of Freedom Motors.

The vehicle has just 7,000 miles on it. And the detailing on the outside is pretty unique. The previous owner had wood-like accents added to the sides of the car. Someone asked Cardoza if she'd have the accents removed. Cardoza said she wouldn't.

"In [the donor's] memory, I'm going to keep it on there," she said.

Cardoza couldn't say enough about Freedom Motors and the anonymous family she'll never meet.

"They're angels," she said. "I couldn't say 'thank you' enough."

Now Cardoza can tackle the next obstacle in her life: College, and eventually, she hopes, curing degenerative diseases.

"I feel like God gave me this disability because he knew I had the personality" to fight it, Cardoza said. "My whole life, people have helped me through everything. ... I want to help people."