Trina Parker and her 11-year-old son Darius made a deal when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor: They would draw strength from one another.
“We were going to be strong and get through this,” she said last week from her home north of Wilcox Boulevard. “I’m usually a crybaby and, if I cry, he just instantly cries. That was the pact. We’re going to be a big girl and a big boy.”
Disappointment edged her voice when she acknowledged she did break down and cry last winter when a Vanderbilt neurosurgeon described how her son’s skull would be opened during brain surgery.
She also admitted feeling hysterical when she got a call, only days before a life-saving brain surgery, that the procedure would have to be postponed because Darius had somehow lost his TennCare coverage.
In recognition of her persistence in tracking her son’s medical conditions and fighting bureaucratic missteps to ensure he kept his health coverage, the Tennessee Justice Center will honor Ms. Parker as Mother of the Year on Friday. She is one of six mothers across Tennessee whom the advocacy group is recognizing.