I am 24 years old. I live in McKinney, Texas with my fiance Billy Wood Jr.

God and family are very important to me.

I graduated with honors in 2005 from McKinney North High School. Two weeks later, I was unfortunately in a serious  car accident which left me paralyzed from the chest down. The impact of the crash caused my neck to break at my C6 vertebrae and my spinal cord to bruise. As a result, I am quadriplegic and have spinal cord injury. Despite the circumstances, I still have a heart and soul that enjoys life. I have been shown all that life offers and have been given a new sense of appreciation. I am incredibly grateful for the amazing, supportive, and willing family that God has blessed me with. They go above and beyond every day and in everything they do. And after all that we have been through, my fiance Billy still wants to be with me. God's grace is amazingly abundant.

God has blessed me with a second chance at life and I am determined to not let Him down. Through the past six years, I have learned a lot and grown in unspeakable ways. I have learned that everything I have been given is a blessing. I have learned that the abilities to see, smell, breathe, speak, taste, eat, hear, move, and feel deserve praise. As I laid in the hospital bed with only one ability - the ability to see - I for once was able to stop being so selfish and realize how blessed I was. I unfortunately never realized it before then but it was what I needed. I had been living life without God and not giving Him any recognition. What I have learned above all else is who my God is. He is there and has been there for me since the beginning. He is my Creator. He is my provider and protector. He loves me more than I could possibly imagine.

And He will see me through this.

“Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal” (Job 5:17-18). "But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

 

 

My experiences these last six years have influenced me to pursue a social work degree. I have been going to Collin College since 2004 and finally obtained an Associate's degree of Liberal Arts in May 2011. After that, I plan to obtain a Bachelor's of Social Work and a Master's of Counseling specializing in Substance Abuse and Addiction. I enjoy school and have been very active in the student body. I am a member of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society alumni, the National Society of Leadership and Success alumni, and I served two terms on the Student Activity Fee Assessment Committee (SAFAC).

 

The summer of 2009 marked a time in my life that I finally felt emotionally ready to speak about my accident, struggles, and new found faith. Since the winter of 2009, I have been speaking for MADD at Victim Impact Panels to teens and adults and at Blue Ridge High School, Hebron High School, Sam Houston High School, and Collin College. When presented the opportunity, I will also speak to church youth groups.

 

 

 

This was my story at a MADD Teen VIP in June 2010.

(Background music stops after song plays once)

 

I love the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Cowboys!

 

    

Billy and I had a chance to go to a game in 2006. It was so fun and we had great seats!

  

Food is my passion. I don't discriminate. My favorite is Asian food, Olive Garden, and La Madeline.

When I was in high school, I loved art class. I got interested in any and everything artistic. I loved drawing and painting thanks to my art teacher Mrs. Kessler and Leon, a friend of the family.

     

 

 You all highlight my day and even my week when I see you.   

My most missed memory is going to my Grandma's house. When I used to spend the night at her house, she would cook me up a HUGE meal AND give me a slimfast shake as my drink! She sadly died in1998 when I was 10 years old from breast and bone cancer.

My cousin Karie also passed when I was young, in 2000. Her, her boyfriend, and their baby Zachary were found horribly murdered. She was very close to us. Her death and the terrible circumstances which it occurred still gives me chills.

The man on the left is my boyfriend's Papaw, Mel. I remember going to Billy's house and his Memaw & Papaw would always come over to spend time with us and eat. He was a very sweet man and loved Johnny Cash!

On the right is my mom with her sister, Becky and her brother, Marty with my Grandpa. My Grandpa died in 2006 from bladder cancer. This was the last time we were all together. I remember he was so happy. We were celebrating his birthday. I remember always exploring outside when we would go see him. He lived on a farm with roosters, ducks, guineas, turkeys, cows, pigs, dogs, cats. . . it was always so fun at his house. He always watched Young & the Restless and was a big Dallas Cowboys fan.

I have a lot of good memories from school, but also many bad memories. We had 3 deaths in my graduating class, whom all I knew. I was actually close to each one of them. There was the murders of Austin York and Matt Self (also 2 others were murdered that happened to be related to friends of mine) all in one incident. I knew Austin since elementary school and Matt was always in a class of mine in high school. Then there was another classmate of mine, Tyler Davis who was killed in a car crash. Both Matt and Tyler were in my Pre-Calculus class that year. I completely broke down when I first entered that class after each accident.

Habakkuk 1:5 – “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”