Trina Parker

Eleven-year-old Darius “never meets a stranger,” says his mom, Trina, of her outgoing 5th grader. Last fall, chronic headaches and severe weight loss forced Darius to miss school and football practice. Soon, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Trina had to cut her work hours in half to care for him, leaving the family ineligible for her employer’s health insurance.

Then, TennCare told Darius he would lose coverage the day before he was going to have the brain tumor removed. Without insurance, the hospital refused to operate. Trina called TJC, and we determined that TennCare had miscalculated the family’s income and that Darius should stay on TennCare. With TJC’s help, Darius kept his health insurance and got life-saving surgery. He is now undergoing chemotherapy and his prognosis is good.