Shows her children the importance of persistence in the face of adversity

Brittany Morris remembers playing dead in 2019 while she was being attacked with a knife by an ex-boyfriend. Her two toddlers watched, frozen with fear.

“I was just praying that God didn’t allow me to die in front of my children,” she says.

The attacker finally ran. He was arrested the same night. He later pleaded guilty and is now in prison.

Brittany will tell you the lingering impact of that night for her was much more severe than any prison sentence: She had been stabbed eight times. Her spinal cord was severed. The attack left her paralyzed. A doctor told her she would never walk again, but she refused to simply give up.

“I asked him if he believed in God,” she said. “Because He could make anything possible.”

Brittany previously lived as child in Los Angeles on Skid Row. She’s been homeless. She’s struggled with alcohol. But she’s been sober now for more than a decade and says if she can get through all that, there’s no reason she can’t gain back much of her independence following this injury. “When this happened to me honestly, I was like, I had been through so much that this didn’t affect me like that,” said Brittany.

She knew she wasn’t going to give up. She started therapy almost immediately. She had her share of struggles but persevered.

Fast forward to March 2021. She began inpatient therapy at TIRR. By June, she was doing so well she was discharged and began outpatient therapy. She wanted to become more independent. 

“I think she’s an inspiration. She went through this horrible domestic violence. She was very determined to overcome and succeed,” said Dr. Lisa Wenzel, attending physician at TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital. “She’s done remarkably well.”

While in a wheelchair still, Brittany has full range of motion on both arms. Her right hand is stronger than her left, but she’s getting stronger every day. She is determined to make her life, and those of her two sons, better.

“It’s rare that you find someone with my level of injury as a single mom,” Brittany said.

She knew she had to do something to make a better life for her boys. Since the attack, she enrolled in college. She graduated from the Lamar Institute of Technology with an Associate’s degree in Occupational Safety and Health. She’s now starting on a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technology.  Dr. Wenzel says that determination is like Brittany’s “secret weapon”. She hasn’t let anything deter her from her goals. Living her life didn’t end the day she was paralyzed.

“She really moved forward with her life. Her grit and goals. Becoming independent with her care,” Wenzel noted. “She has done fabulous with it.”

Brittany Morris is a survivor. She hopes her children, now age five, see that and find their own motivation in watching her strive toward independence and making a better life for them all.