Not every 11-year-old saves their mother’s life. That’s precisely what Khloe McCormick did.
Teshauna McCormick, wife, mother of three, Pinecrest High School employee, recently suffered a stroke. Khloe, her youngest daughter, helped save Teshauna, who was incapacitated.
The McCormicks, who live in Raeford, have been big news recently — Elijah McCormick, Teshauna’s son, competed in the TV show American Idol.
It was late October, and Teshauna sat on her front porch, waiting to take Khloe to school, enjoying a drink. “I went to grab my drink, but my left arm wouldn’t move,” she remembered. “So I used my right arm to move my hand and grabbed it, and it slid out of my hand. I went to sit back down, but I fell over and rolled on the porch.”
She tried calling out to Khloe, but her speech was slurred and quiet. “That’s when I told myself, ‘You’re having a stroke.’”
Teshauna tried to call 911 but couldn’t dial the numbers on her phone. She tried and failed to get up repeatedly, but she managed to ring the doorbell. That’s when Khloe came out, asking, “Mom, why are you playing on this porch?”
Quickly, Khloe realized the danger and called 911, calm and collected.
Teshauna kept trying to get up, determined not to die in front of her daughter, but she heard authority in Khloe’s voice when she said, “Momma, sit down. You’re not going anywhere, girl. Don’t you hear the ambulance coming?”
“I thought it was funny, but I couldn’t laugh,” Teshauna recalled.
Khloe did not leave Teshauna’s side until the ambulance was speeding toward FirstHealth.
Doctors told Teshauna that she received medical assistance just in time. “If not for Khloe, nobody would have helped me until I was dead and gone,” Teshauna added.
That’s when her stay at the hospital began, lasting until Dec. 7. Teshauna thanked friends and family for supporting her and visiting and praying with her. She stayed strong through God and the FirstHealth staff, who were knowledgeable, helpful, and kind. “They all became like family,” she said.
And Khloe was there, too, staying by her mother’s side as much as possible. Teshauna said, “She would have never left if it was up to her.”
The stroke paralyzed Teshauna’s left arm, hand, and leg. Hoping to regain control of her body, Tehsauna began physical therapy. When Teshauna would give up during therapy, Khloe encouraged her, “OK, now, Momma, this isn’t what we’re going to do. Remember, you told us to push through it. You’re strong. You got this.”
Teshauna called Khloe’s words, “Something a mother would say to a child.”
That support has been pivotal in Teshauna’s recovery. Furthermore, Khloe may have found her calling. She told her mother that she may want to become a physical therapist when she grows up.
On Dec. 7, Teshauna returned home, where Khloe continues caring for her. “She’s my little nurse,” said Teshauna.
Today, Teshauna is still incapable of many “simple things,” as she called them: driving, dressing, walking. But, recently, Teshauna’s recovery has been going well, and she’s regained the ability to move her arm and leg. “The goal is to be as independent as I was before this ever happened,” she said.
With Khloe’s amazing support, Teshauna has all the help she needs to hopefully make a full recovery. Her mother called her “My little hero.”
Feature photo: Teshauna and Khloe McCormick/Courtesy photo.
~Written by Sandhills Sentinel reporter Andrew Sellers.
