A driver gets a special Feel Good Friday surprise from a woman critically injured in a bike accident

EastIdahoNews.com and Ashley in Idaho Falls and Pocatello are partnering to honor people in our community for Feel Good Friday. Every week, we surprise someone deserving of special recognition.

We recently received an email from a woman named LayLa about a man named Terry. He’s a transportation driver for Brio Home Health and Hospice. LayLa wrote:

In April 2020 I was in a devastating biking accident and became a paraplegic with a traumatic brain injury. To have my best recovery has required a full-time schedule of various therapies and medical appointments.

With so many appointments it would have been impossible for my husband to work full time and transport me to so many appointments. So we were connected to Brio. While Terry didn’t transport me to every single appointment, he did transport me to several a week.

For a person with a brain injury, that is a lot of time spent strapped in the back of a sprinter van with a stranger in the drivers seat. In the early days of my brain injury I was barely “there”. However, I did get the impression that if I was with Terry that my husband felt relief that he didn’t have to worry about my safety. I truly was safe with Terry. Plenty of times I would have no idea where I was heading or what I was doing, but I never had to remember. He always knew.

I don’t think I have ever had to ask Terry for help. He hands me what I need when I need it. Now that I can be transported in a sedan, he helps me get my weak leg inside. He walks or wheels me all the way inside buildings. If I’m having a particularly bad day, he will make sure I make it safely to a chair or to further help. And Terry can always tell if I’m having a good or bad day.

After so much time spent together, Terry is genuinely my friend. He is a genuinely caring man. This summer Terry has taken me fishing a number of times. He knows everything takes longer when I’m involved. He never complains.

I set a goal to walk around the river on my birthday this summer. Because my body doesn’t respond properly to heat this had to happen late at night. I told Terry about it and he instantly told me he would be there. My walk took over four hours and went until nearly 1 a.m. That was a long time for him to be on his feet and a much later than he would normally be awake. I knew he was tired. I also knew that if I kept putting one foot in front of the other, there was no way that Terry would quit.

The one thing that touched me the most happened when I realized that a very dear friend of mine, whom I hadn’t seen in eight years, was going to be in Yellowstone, and I couldn’t just get in my car and drive myself there to spend time with him.

So without a thought I casually told Terry that it was pretty startling to me to realize that I couldn’t just get in my car and go see my friend. I don’t think I finished my thought and Terry piped up. “When is it? I’ll take you.” And he wasn’t talking about for work. I told him that that wouldn’t be necessary and I’ll figure it out. Immediately he looks straight at me and sternly says “ARE WE FRIENDS?” And so I was silenced. I’ve spent enough time with Terry and figured out his dedication to family and friends. There was nothing I could possibly argue. We are friends and he wouldn’t just sit by and see me miss connecting with my dear friend because of a brain injury.

If a person has to undergo the devastation of a spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, meeting a guy like Terry is just good for the soul. Just knowing that there is a guy out there like Terry gives hope for this world.

We contacted Brio and asked if we could pay Terry a visit for Feel Good Friday. Check out the surprise in the video player above!