Tezah's Journey: How A Drunk Driving Crash Changed Her Life

CONROE, TEXAS — Sometimes, life just isn't fair. Sometimes, life is paved with painful bumps in the road that tend to alter our perception, or not. Tezah Waters has had morfe than her share of painful bumps in the road the last two years.

Last week, came back home to undergo what she and her friends hope will be a life saving and a life-altering surgery. Waters, who is originally from Conroe, has for many years loved her life as a boat captain on the picturesque island of St. Croix. The ocean, she has said all too often, is her church and the place she finds a harmonious peace that feeds her spirit.

Her friends always saw her as a live out loud kind of person, a selfless friend, a silly and mischievous lady, bursting with passion human being, and a beautiful dreamer with deep gratitude for the gift of life. Waters was and still is just one of those unforgettable souls.

But her life changed forever on Feb. 21, 2016 when a drunk driver smashed into her as she rode her motorcycle home, and left her to die on a darkened street. Her body was torn and bleeding and the remnants of her motorcycle were little more than a twisted pile of metal. She couldn't walk. She could scarcely move, and she felt excruciating and unimaginable pain. She was bleeding out from what was left of her right leg, and she knew it.

Waters dragged herself across the darkened street to the twisted remains of her motorcycle. She found a bungee cord and fashioned a tourniquet to stop the profuse bleeding from her right leg, and saved her own life. Paramedics soon arrived and took her to the hospital, where she began the arduous recovery and underwent the first of several operations.

When she awoke, she learned that she lost her right leg, a kidney, and had suffered severe spinal injuries. Tez, as she has always been called, endured 15 more operations before she was somewhat whole. But her life was drastically altered.

Tez, however, tried to keep a positive attitude for her foster children and felt she would overcome this test and beat it just as she had cancer twice before. But it was tough.

Waters soon developed Sympathetic Nerve Disorder, a rare and excruciatingly painful condition only a handful of amputees get.

She was prescribed powerful opiates, which severely damaged her liver and other organs. It became necessary for Tez to stop taking these medicines, to avoid organ failure.

“Living in constant pain for over two years has kept me captive from feeling joy, dreaming, and worst of all,” she said by phone from St. Croix. “from living a life of purpose that God has planned for me.”

This will require surgical intervention by pain specialists in Houston’s medical center. Dr. Brian Bruel, who is an interventional pain physician who also is director of pain medicine and an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine is standing by to save Waters’ life.

He’s one of a handful of experts qualified to implant an electro-neuro stimulator (ENS) device that connects permanent wire leads from the brain stem down the lumbar. The implant can significantly reduce or disguise the pain. The operation will have a 80 percent success rate if she is able to undergo the surgery next week.

“It would mean no more drugs, significantly reduced pain, and the chance for me to return to a functional, happy and robust life,” Waters said.

Waters is a prime candidate for the procedure, however her “island insurance” isn’t accepted here and Baylor College of Medicine and St. Luke’s Medical Center won’t approve the surgery without receiving $100,000 up front from Waters. Friends of Waters set up a GoFundMe page and have only managed to raise $15,000 of the needed $100,000 needed up front.

If she doesn’t get the operation, she must continue taking the drugs, which will certainly result in complete kidney and liver failure.

Kelly Lout, Assistant Principal for Montgomery ISD, has known Waters since childhood.

“Tez has remained positive and courageous throughout this pain-filled journey, and we cannot fathom it ending in death simply because she is unable to afford insurance for the operation,” she said. “We know she has a life of real purpose ahead of her, and a strong desire to turn this horrific tragedy into a triumph. She can use all she’s learned from this experience to motivate and inspire others who are facing adversities to work through them.”

Donations for Waters surgery can be made here.

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Photo via GoFund, a Patch promotional partner

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