The painting shows two versions of herself — in one she has a gaping wound on the back of her head, in the other she's running in prosthetic legs that are decorated with birds.
Norma Santos Trujillo expects the artwork to eventually include three self-portrayals. But she’s leaving it to the creative process to determine the finished product.
She’s been painting a lot more lately.
“It’s been going really well,” Norma, 33, said, as she slid from her wheelchair to the couch in her southwest-side home on Friday afternoon. “I haven’t been down or anything. I’m at peace with it.”
‘It’ refers to an April 19 crash that occurred on Tucson’s south side, when Norma was on her way home from coaching her daughter’s soccer team.
Norma got out of her car to help a stranded motorist push his stalled Ford Explorer. As they were pushing the SUV, Norma was struck by another car, lost both her legs above the knee and suffered third-degree burns, among other serious injuries. She now has three rods connecting her spine to the base of her skull.
She is now walking on short, prosthetic legs called “stubbies” decorated with blue birds. She sees the birds as a symbol of the independence she hopes to one day regain.
Once she has mastered the stubbies, she wants to graduate to full-length prosthetic legs.
On Dec. 29, 30 and 31, the Star published a three-day series about Norma, titled “The Good Samaritan.”
Shortly after the stories appeared online, Norma was in the shower when her husband, Michael, came into the bathroom, reading messages from his phone. The messages were from strangers who had donated money ranging from $5 to $5,000 apiece, wishing Norma well.
“Your GoFundMe is blowing up,” Michael, 33, a grants administrator at the University of Arizona, said at the time.
Norma began to cry.
“I was so surprised,” she said.
Star readers donated more than $40,000. Her GoFundMe account had gone from $15,000 to $55,660 as of Friday.
Norma was most appreciative of the notes that donors wrote to her. Michael read them aloud.
“You are so strong,” one said.
“You are an inspiration, Samaritan,” said another.
It was difficult for her to comprehend.
“I really couldn’t believe how Tucson got together and responded,” she said.
Other readers reached out with offers of help.
Pima Medical Institute Board Chairman Richard Luebke Jr. invited Norma to an adaptive athletics expo at the University of Arizona, which she attended last weekend and felt encouraged by all the people she met. She and Luebke are now friends.
Tucsonan Denny Scanlan reached out to help Norma get her own wheelchair.
Ever since the crash, she had been using a wheelchair borrowed from HealthSouth Rehabilitation Institute in Tucson, where she was an inpatient following her hospitalization. She’d been going back and forth with her health insurance company about paying for one.
That was a familiar story to Scanlan of the Tucson Sunset Rotary Club, who recalled insurance wouldn’t cover the cost of the wheelchair his wife needed when she was sick from cancer. Valerie Scanlan died in 2013.
Tucson Sunset Rotary Club
“The insurance would pay for a standard wheelchair, but that’s not what Norma needs,” said Scanlan, a retired law enforcement officer. “She needs one custom-built to her size, down to her arm length.”
Scanlan and his fiancée, Ann Huber, met with Norma and Michael about the Trujillo family’s other needs, which included everything from a lower “peekhole” in the front door so that Norma can see out, to more ramps at their house. Both Scanlan and Huber, inspired by Norma’s warm personality, felt compelled to do what they could for her, Scanlan said.
Norma and Michael offered to pay for the improvements with their GoFundMe account, but Scanlan said he wants the family to keep that money for other needs that will surely arise.
He began speaking to other Rotary clubs in the Tucson area about Norma’s story.
As Scanlan told others about Norma, he got offers of help from friends, strangers and fellow Rotarians. Dr. Jeffrey Penfil, a dentist and member of the Rotary Club of Marana Dove Mountain, offered free dental care to fix Norma’s teeth, which had been chipped and cracked in the crash.
Two west-side residents donated an electric scooter.
One of Scanlan’s friends offered to help build ramps at Norma and Mike’s house and install motion-activated lights inside the home for when Norma gets up in the night.
And Scanlan’s Tucson Sunset Rotary Club worked with Allied MedCor Services (AMS) in Tucson to help Norma get a lightweight, custom-built Invacare wheelchair at a deeply discounted price. The local Rotary Club covered the cost.
On Friday, AMS delivered the wheelchair to Norma at her home. The chair is bright yellow, which is a color she chose. AMS President Rudy Martinez said it’s not a color most people select. But Norma loved it. She sees yellow as positive energy. It’s also her husband’s favorite color. He always smiles when she wears yellow clothing.
Norma specifically chose yellow for the color of her new wheelchair. She says it holds positive energy.
“It is beautiful,” Norma said, as she sped across her living room floor in the new chair. “It’s so light.”
Martinez and company marketing liaison Randy Owens also gave Norma a card signed by AMS employees.
“One day at a time. One step at a time,” the card’s cover says.
“That’s her life right now,” Michael said.
Though she still has ups and downs, Norma says she is now embracing her life as a bilateral above-knee amputee. She no longer wakes up panicked at the site of her wheelchair, nor does she feel scared about the future.
The players on her daughter’s new soccer team named themselves “The Warriors” in Norma’s honor. Norma and Michael are the team’s coaches.
Norma is looking forward to going to a Hanger Clinic “boot camp” in Oklahoma in April, where she and other people with prosthetic limbs will, among other things, engage in physical tests like navigating ramps, stairs, curbs and uneven terrain.
Norma Santos Trujillo is all smiles as she tries out her new wheelchair on February 09, 2018 in Tucson, Ariz. The Tucson Sunset Rotary Club paid for the chair and it was delivered by Allied MedCor Services. With the wheelchair Norma is able to reach the handles on the kitchen faucet.
After taking a break due to insurance issues, she recently restarted physical therapy twice per week. She also recently learned she’ll need more surgery for her third-degree burns, which will require another hospitalization. And since her burn surgeon is now in Phoenix, that’s something she’ll need to plan.
Also on her list: driving again, walking more on her prosthetic legs and going back to work. She was working as a medical assistant prior to the crash, but has given some thought to going back to school and becoming an occupational therapist.
“I’d like to help encourage other people and help them get better, too,” she said.