Utah Teen Shot, Left For Dead Three Years Ago Raising Money For Prosthetic Arm
Feb 20, 2020, 7:47 PM | Updated: Feb 21, 2020, 8:55 am
LOGAN, Utah – Three years after she was shot in the head and left for dead, Deserae Turner is tackling a new challenge, hoping to use her catchphrase “Tougher than a bullet” to raise money for a new prosthetic arm.
“My hand is permanently in a fist,” she told KSL TV.
She said a prosthetic arm would be a life-changer on her road to independence, allowing her to lift her arm and use three of her fingers.
However, the robotic arm runs about $55,000 and is not covered by insurance. It’s money Turner believes would be critical in helping her to make a full recovery.
“There’s a lot you can do with three fingers,” she said. “Having the function of the prosthetic will definitely give me a big leap of that step of moving out because I’ll be able to have both arms.”
Turner was found just after midnight on a very cold Feb. 17, 2017. She said every February, it’s like her body begins to experience PTSD as she thinks about what happened to her.
After school on Feb. 16, she thought a couple of boys just wanted to hang out in a canal area they would often walk along.
One of the teens told her he lost her ring and as she went looking for it, he shot her in the back of the head.
Those two teens, Jayzon Decker and Colter Peterson, are now serving 15 years-to-life for the shooting.
“To this day I still think, why? Why did this happen to me? Who would want to do this?” she said.
While in the hospital Turner coined the phrase “tougher than a bullet” — a phrase she’s now putting on t-shirts and sweatshirts that she’s selling to raise money for that prosthetic arm.
“I have not let this bullet inside of me stop me from living. Yes it’s stopped me from being able to move my hand, but I’m not going to let that stop me for long,” she said.
The family has set up a GoFundMe* account here. T-shirts and sweaters can be ordered here.
*KSL TV does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
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