First-Grader of Near-Fatal Pencil Accident Celebrates 15th Anniversary
Harris Health SystemFirst-grader Destiny Lopez had just sharpened her pencil eager to finish up a writing assignment when she accidently tripped—impaling the pencil through her chest and into her heart. Nearly 15 years later, the now 23-year-old and recent mother, still bears the scar of that near-fatal accident. On May 14, she and caregivers from Harris Health System’s Ben Taub Hospital, as well as first-responders from the Houston Fire Department, will be joined by someone who many consider the unsung hero of the accident—teacher Terry Kirksey, who did not pull out the pencil from Lopez’s chest—giving her a fighting chance to survive the heart injury.