Local News
Lyberde stops by for visit
By David May
editor@mineralwellsindex.com
How appropriate that on the week of Easter, a modern-day miracle visited the Mineral Wells Index on Thursday.
Lyberde Parker will turn 5 years old in June. Many Index readers will remember her. It is hard to believe more than four years have passed since she was severely burned while she and her parents slept inside their Crazy Water apartment off S.E. 25th Avenue on Oct. 30, 2003.
Lyberde was asleep in the living room on a mattress, wrapped in a blanket. A nearby fan shorted and fell into the mattress, setting it afire along with the blanket wrapped around her. She became virtually a fiery cocoon, left badly burned over 65 percent of her body. There were concerns whether she would survive. She did, though she lost her right leg and one hand is missing a finger.
Today, she bears the physical scars – but no apparent mental scars. Her custodial grandmother Katherine Parker said Lyberde – just 4 months old at the time – does not seem to have any recollections of the incident and has adapted amazingly well.
“She only knows (about the accident) what she hears, like at the doctors’ offices,” Parker said.
In talking with Lyberde, she acts like a normal 4-year-old girl, and her grandmother said there aren’t many things she can’t do despite her disabilities. Lyberde is an active, articulate and inquisitive girl. She danced around the front lobby like any other child.
She will shake your hand and say, “God bless you.”
Lyberde and her grandmother now live in Hitchcock, Texas, near Houston. She attends pre-kindergarten.
“I like my teacher, and my friends,” she said.
“Dora the Explorer” dominates her bedroom walls.
“She likes art, anything to do with drawing,” Katherine Parker said.
Lyberde has traveled a long road on her recovery, and has more to go. To date she has undergone 17 surgeries, endured 24 skin graphs and will undergo more reconstructive surgery on her right side.
Two years ago she was received a prosthesis from Shriner’s Hospital in Galveston, Texas. Parker said Lyberde will soon receive a new prosthesis, one that will allow her greater flexibility, especially in the knee joint. It will make riding her bicycle easier, though the limitations of her current prosthesis don’t slow her down much.
“God is awesome,” Parker said. “If it wasn’t for prayer and our faith in God, she would not have made it.”
After the incident, members of the community donated clothes, food and money to the family after a trust fund was established at a local bank. Much of the monies donated assisted the family with living expenses in Dallas while Lyberde was hospitalized and treated for her burns.
The local generosity is something Parker has not forgotten about.
“I am really grateful for the people, a lot of people in Palo Pinto County, who helped us,” she said. “We really send out our prayers to them.”
- Local News
-
-
Man, woman arrested in drug bust at local bar
Gary Ross Nickols, 56, of Mineral Wells, and Elise Nichole Dalton, 25, of Millsap, were arrested Tuesday around 2:30 p.m. at a bar in the 1600 block of South Oak after Mineral Wells police assisted the City-County Narcotics Unit, reportedly acting on information obtained by CCNU.
-
Thursday Blotter - September 2, 2010
The following people were processed through the Palo Pinto County Jail.
-
Mineral Wells ISD trustees set 2011 budget, tax rate
Before Mineral Wells ISD's trustees were ready to vote Tuesday on the district's 2011 budget and tax rate, Board President Joe Ruelas repeatedly asked a room full of mostly empty chairs, “Does anybody in the public have any questions ... anyone?”
-
Womans Club's first fall meeting this Wednesday
The Womans Club of Mineral Wells will have its first fall meeting Wednesday at the Womans Club Building (old post office) starting at 11:30 a.m.
-
Input sought at NRCS conservation meeting
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Palo Pinto County Soil and Water Conservation District invite the public and any agencies with an interest in conservation issues to participate in a local work group meeting Wednesday.
-
County Records
Aug. 23-30
County Clerk, Bobbie Smith -
Man involved in bar fight ends up at hospital
A man was transported to the hospital after a fight at a bar in the 2800 block of U.S. Highway 281 South around midnight Sunday, according to police, who provided backup to the Palo Pinto County Sheriff's Office on the call.
-
Vietnam War Museum
The annual Friends of the National Vietnam War Museum spring fundraiser this year will be a fall fundraiser.
-
Ram Band
The Mineral Wells Ram Band Fan Club is pleased to offer the opportunity to sponsor the 2010 Rams football program.
-
Helping sell baked goodies
Lorean Weldon and Betty Keller help sell baked goodies Friday afternoon at Palo Pinto Nursing and Rehab.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Man, woman arrested in drug bust at local bar





