Help for a Real Angel

Angel's car. It is a miracle she survived!

The Tennessee Valley in North Alabama and South Tennessee is especially notorious for spring and fall tornadoes and destructive straight-line winds. Last Tuesday, May 20, was a high-alert day for our area. Angel Gatrey, a single mother whom I’ve known for four years, was driving her 3 year-old son Knowledge and 15 year old brother Coyrian to safety when the unthinkable happened. A massive oak tree fell on her car.

Angel with her children, Nailah and Knowledge

By God’s incredible grace and mercy, both Knowledge and Coyrian were unharmed. However, Angel suffered a traumatic injury to her neck and spine. She immediately lost sensation from the waist down. Fortunately, a passerby saw the tree on the car and called 911. Her injuries were so severe that she was rushed by ambulance from Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville where she had immediate emergency surgery. Today she moved out of the Intensive Care Unit.

Angel took this picture of her sister Jerrica, and I used it for my book cover.

The doctors are saying that the chances of her walking again are slim, but Angel is surrounded by people who believe in the power of prayer. Angel herself is a woman of faith. She is a doula who serves mothers in need. She is a gifted photographer. In fact, Angel took the picture that is on the cover of my first book, Fed By Design. She is also a student at Northwest Shoals Community College where she is studying early childhood education. To try to make ends meet, Angel also works as a substitute teacher. In the midst of her busy life, she also finds time for important non-profit work to give back to her community.

The road to recovery will not be an easy one, and Angel doesn’t have good health insurance. She will need in-patient rehabilitation, physical therapy and long-term nursing care. Her greatest concern right now is her children’s well-being. A family friend created this Go-Fund-Me to help with the many expenses that Angel will incur. One of the saddest things to me is that our media outlets raved about how no one was killed during the May 20 outbreak. We are so thankful for that. But I’ve not heard a single word from any of them about this amazing young woman whose life was changed in an instant during the May 20 storms.

Please give if you are able, share this post, help me get our news outlets to care about this story, and most importantly, pray. Pray for a miracle for Angel. Pray that she will walk again and that all her needs will be met. Thank you for making a difference for our Angel!