CACHE COUNTY, Utah — When it comes to flowers, nineteen year-old Deserae Turner says she can’t pick a favorite. They all make her smile.
“They just brighten the day,” she said.
Four years ago, Turner was shot in the head by two of her classmates.
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“I never imagined anything like it, ever,” said April Turner, Deserae’s mother.
Deserae says the injury caused her to take up a new hobby.
“Lots of people were giving me flowers on my homecoming from the hospital.” Deserae said. “I’ve just fallen in love with flowers.”
“People gifted us flowers, and that was huge,” April said. “It was so kind of them to do that, but also it did something for us.”
Deserae now uses her knowledge of flowers every day as a volunteer service missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
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“Right now I’m donating my flowers and putting them in bouquets and vases to donate them to hospice care and nursing homes,” Deserae said.
Looking towards the future, Deserae says she believes that where flowers bloom, so does hope.
“The thing about flowers, they’re all so different, but they’re beautiful like me,” Deserae said. “I am a disabled, high-functioning girl, but I am beautiful.”
