|
|
Profile in Courage - Kids Chance, Georgia
Author: Cheryl Oliver | Tuesday June 05, 2007
Stories of human endeavor at heart of Kids' Chance.
Kids Chance Profile
Story of Courage in
Face of Adversity
Tony Uriegas is the son of Gabe Uriegas and Betty Uriegas, a former Gainesville police officer who was catastrophically injured while on duty.
On August 14, 1994, Officer Uriegas was attacked as she drove on patrol up Highway 13 north of Gainesville. A car filled with gang members swerved into her lane and bullets from their guns hit her patrol car. As she hydroplaned on the wet highway, her vehicle slid sideways into a tree that fell onto the car roof. The roof collapsed just as the airbag inflated. Officer Uregias suffered massive injuries including a broken neck. She was in a coma for ten days with slim chance for survival.
She did survive, however, and in the months that followed, began the long process of adapting to life as a quadriplegic. She learned to activate her specially-equipped telephone by sipping or blowing. With a mouth-held wand, she learned to operate her new computer. She remains active in the lives of her husband, daughter and son. The family has rallied and built a new kind of life.
Tony was only seven years old at the time of his mother’s accident. He progressed in school and graduated in May 2005 with honors from West Hall High School in Oakwood. He currently is a sophomore at Georgia State University (GPA = 3.38) with plans to major in Marketing & Industrial Design. His ultimate career goal is to work in automotive design.
Tony has as a role model his older sister, Betsy, who was a Kids’ Chance scholar until she graduated Magna Cum Laude from UGA in May 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. Betsy will soon finish her studies at the Medical College of Georgia and begin her residency in neurosurgery at Duke Medical Center.
Kids’ Chance supporters can take pride that our program assists students like Tony and Betsy who face daunting obstacles as a result of their parents’ injuries, uplifts families and makes society better by the good things “our kids” accomplish.
|
|
