TJC 2010 Mother of the Year - Trina Parker

Eleven-year-old Darius “never meets a stranger,” says his mom, Trina, of her outgoing 5th grader.  But last fall, chronic headaches and severe weight loss began forcing him to miss school and football practice.  Darius was diagnosed with brain cancer.  Trina had to cut her work hours in half to care for him, leaving both her and her son ineligible for her employer’s health insurance.

Darius and Ms. Parker didn’t think things could get much worse.  Then, TennCare told Darius he would lose coverage the day before he was to have his brain tumor removed.  Without insurance, the hospital would not do the operation.  Ms. Parker asked the Department of Human Services (DHS) for help, but nothing happened. Then, a social worker told her about the Tennessee Justice Center.

Trina called TJC, and we determined that TennCare had miscalculated the family’s income and that Darius should stay on TennCare.  We helped Ms. Parker file an appeal, allowing Darius to keep TennCare during the appeal.  The surgery went smoothly, and Darius went home with his Mom about a week later.

But her fight wasn’t over yet. Darius’s cancer was worse than doctors had thought. A few days before Darius was scheduled to return to the hospital for chemotherapy, DHS told Ms. Parker they were going to close Darius’s TennCare case. Ms. Parker called TJC again. We wrote the Case Manager a letter reminding him that DHS rules required him to keep Darius’s case open.

DHS kept the case open, and later approved Darius’s TennCare application. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy and his prognosis is good.  Ms. Parker said that despite everything, “Darius is in good spirits. The doctor explained everything and he understands that the treatment is to get rid of the tumor,” said Ms. Parker. “He has a really good family-based support and church.”

Ms. Parker is adamant that other families should not have to go through what hers did to get health care.  She said, “I pray that we can work together to fix our country’s health care.”