Put Yourself In Her Heels: Teresa’s Story

Teresa lay on the floor after being slammed against a wall by her boyfriend. Images of past fights raced through her memory: nights where stale beer tossed in her face and being called nasty names was normal. Nights like this.

She was rushed into emergency surgery. The incident left her confined to a wheelchair. In the months that followed she endured multiple restorative surgeries and endless physical therapy.

Once she was able to walk again, she made a plan. “When he said he was working for sixteen hours that day, I left everything. As soon as I got well, I started running and I ran to a place where these church people helped me.”

After enduring years of physical and emotional abuse from domestic partners, Teresa left her home in South Bend and relocated to a shelter specializing in domestic violence. She had just started to get acquainted with her new community when she was spotted by a friend of her ex-partner.

“I ran right back to the shelter and I told them, ‘I got to go, I can’t go back down that path.’”

The South Bend shelter referred Teresa to A Better Way in Muncie and after her allotted stay there, she was referred to the YWCA.

“I love Muncie. When I came here, I could feel that it was good. You know how you feel like… kinda like home.”

She says that that the YWCA is unlike anywhere else. “I’ve never been in a place and felt so welcome. My goals are to help others as well: to come back here and talk to the board of directors and tell them how the staff has helped all of us in a lot of places we were hurting.”

“I’ve been up in my room and have to pinch myself that I’m in one piece. I was just thinking, my friends, so young, in their twenties, didn’t even get to see thirty. I’m just so blessed that I survived because two of my friends didn’t. I’m the blessed one, but I sure wish they were also the blessed ones.”

In Her Heels: Saturday, September 26th

[actionbutton link=”/the-men-of-in-her-heels/” color=”#ee6330″]VOTE NOW!![/actionbutton]

On September 26, 2015 men from our community will wear women’s high-heeled shoes for our annual In Her Heels fundraiser. Join us at Canan Commons as these men raise support and awareness for the YWCA Central Indiana. Keep an eye out for information to be released on the men participating in this spectacular event.