Dear Southeastern University Advancement Office:
I am a retired educator (assistant principal, Land O’Lakes High School) who advocates for Queena Phu, the Bloomingdale Library Victim. As you know, she is
the young woman set to graduate near the top of her class in 2008 when she was brutally attacked at the Library while returning books after hours. Her assailant raped her, strangled her, beat her and left her for dead.
She did not die, but to this day she still cannot speak or move at will, and continues to need round-the-clock care. She has made many tiny improvements over the last nearly four years, but her life continues to be irretrievably affected in a negative way.
However, she maintains good spirits and manages to comfort those of us around her. One of her great heroes is Tim Tebow, because of his ever-positive attitudes in the face of all adversity and because of his strong religious convictions. She has met Tim Tebow: in 2008 the Guy Harvey Foundation paid for her to go to Gainesville for Homecoming, and arranged a meeting with Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow and the rest of the football team. This was a true highlight of that year for her.
Now, she is hoping to meet with him again, at your convocation on March 8th. She would love to show him the improvements she has made. To be honest, they appear small steps to the average person, but for those of us who know and love Queena, she has made enormous strides.
Anna Vuong, her sister, wrote to you on January 16th with this request. The family is elated that Southeastern will donate two tickets for Queena and her nurse or mom to attend this convocation. However, she was turned down for a private meeting. Make no mistake, we are so grateful for the kind offer of tickets! That is wonderful and so appreciated. However, I have to ask one more time if there might be just a few minutes somewhere in there, either earlier or later in the day, when Queena could just meet with Tim himself and possibly just pray with him. She wants so much to show her improvement to him.
I am attaching pictures so you can see for yourself. Yes, to the average observer, she still cannot move at will or speak and we don’t know what she can see. But once you see these sets of pictures, you will see for yourself that God is working on her behalf. As said, she is an inspiration to all of us.
I appreciate so much all that you do, and I hope I have not made anyone mad by writing one more time. It is only for Queena that I am asking, and I can’t pass up the opportunity.
Regards,
Caryn McDermott
