About Tere
Tere (Terry) Parra is a vivacious, spirited 25-year-old with a profound love for life and all things in it. Armed with a sparkling smile and magnetic personality, Tere set off from her hometown of Merida, Mexico to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Los Angeles California in March of 2010. Weeks before the end of her service in September of 2011, a tragic incident occurred in her family in Mexico that unexpectedly took the life of one of her Sisters. Tere immediately returned home just in time to attend the funeral and had no time to say goodbye to people she had come to know and love so deeply in Los Angeles. Since this time, Tere worked hard to save up the money to come to the United States in order to have some closure on her mission experience and visit the people she had devoted 19 months of her life serving.
Near the end of her visit, Tere suffered a devastating no-fault accident, falling 20 feet to the ground while with friends at ProvoCanyon in Utah. Landing at a crooked angle on her neck and side, she broke three ribs, her eye socket, and the L1 and T12 vertebrae in her back. She also experienced a deflated lung from the break in her ribs. Tere was life-flighted to the nearest hospital and underwent an intense surgery
in which the doctors repaired her ribs and the bones in her back and attempted to repair the damaged vertebrae. But after more than 8 hours in the surgery room, the injury to the vertebrae was too severe and Tere was left paralyzed from the waist down.
With the life-flight, a 3-week stay in the Intensive Care Unit, and a 1 month stay in the rehabilitation facility, hospital bills have sky-rocketed. Coming on a tourist visa with only enough money saved up to cover her stay, Tere was not able to work. Tere’s parents own a small business selling breakfast items out of their home in Merida, but the income earned is minimal, and there is no extra money after paying the necessary bills for day-to-day living. They have no health insurance and no way to raise the funds for Tere’s accident.
Friends and family in Mexico and in the United States are coming together to try to raise the funds to help Tere through this ordeal. The family has applied for emergency financial assistance, but there are still thousands of dollars in bills that need to be paid. Also, since
Tere is not able to work for awhile, she has no way of supporting herself in every day life. She has doctors visits periodically and therapy sessions to pay for. There have been several fundraisers, including dance on July 13th in Provo, Utah, and a 5k race on July 14th which was followed by a barbecue and a raffle. On October 4, 2012, there was a golf tournament held at the Sleepy Ridge Golf Course in Orem, Utah. (Read more about these fundraisers.) These fundraisers were successful, however, the money earned will be nowhere near enough to cover the cost of the bills and the cost to sustain Tere until she is independent and can earn an income. This is where you come in. We are asking one and all to donate any amount they can afford. No donation is too small. You can give Tere the hope for a brighter future. You can be Tere’s legs.
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