+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
upworthy

coming together

The internet's rallying behind these kids big time after a tragedy took their parents.

Unthinkable tragedy struck the Clemens family of Texas in April.

On April 7, 2018, Jim and Karisa Clemens — along with their 2-month-old, Julieanna — were killed driving home from a family outing.

A vehicle crossed the highway median and struck the Clemens' Suburban, killing the parents and baby, according to San Angelo Live. Jim and Karisa's four other children, who'd all been in the car too — Angela, Zachary, Wyatt, and Nicholas — survived the crash with varying degrees of injury.

The Clemens family months before the accident. Left to right: Zachary, Karisa (pregnant with Julieanna), Angela, Jim, Wyatt, and Nicholas (in his dad's arms). Photo via Teresa Burrell, used with permission.

There are no words to describe what Angela, Zachary, Wyatt, and Nicholas are going through after that.

The emotional and physical toll they've endured the past few weeks — recovery from a multitude of injuries and the devastation of losing both parents — is unfathomable.

Nicholas, 2, was released from the hospital a few days after the accident, the children's great-aunt Teresa Burrell confirms. He's doing well. Wyatt, 4, experienced brain trauma and strokes in the aftermath of the crash, leaving him with paralysis on his left side.

Zachary, 5, suffered significant setbacks, including bruised lungs and a broken back. And 8-year-old Angela sustained broken legs from the crash and severe head trauma. She was in a coma the first week after the crash, and the family still isn't sure how much brain damage has occurred, Burrell says.

The physical and emotional healing is just beginning for the Clemens kids. But they're "very resilient," according to their great-aunt. And, crucially, they have each other.

A few days ago, Angela and Zachary were reunited for the first time after the wreck.

A physical therapist at the hospital caught the heartbreaking yet hopeful moment in a photo as the brother and sister laid side by side, hand in hand.

The image has tugged on the heartstrings of many.

Angela and Zachary. Photo courtesy of Teresa Burrell, used with permission.

"My heart is bursting!" someone commented on the photo, which was shared with a note describing each child's progress and the challenges that lie ahead. "They are such special spirits."

"I’m so glad these beautiful kids are surrounded by their loved ones and improving every day," someone else chimed in.

"Omg," another wrote. "This picture has a million feelings running through me."

Through an online fundraiser, Burrell is keeping family and friends — and now big-hearted supporters from around the world — updated on the kids' recoveries.

The family launched the page to help with the massive financial burdens associated with the tragedy. "The children will need extensive care for many months," Burrell wrote. "We are seeking funds to help with the funeral arrangements and for medical care [for] these sweet little children."

Zachary, Wyatt, and Angela. Photo courtesy of Teresa Burrell, used with permission.

Faith has always been important to the Clemens family. So the outpouring of positive thoughts and prayers from people near and far — from Germany and New York to Taiwan and California — has made a big difference.

"We have been upheld from people of many different faiths and beliefs who have prayed for us and the children," she says. "It is humbling and brings peace in a very difficult time."

Fortunately, there have been many milestones worth celebrating since Angela, Zachary, Wyatt, and Nicholas entered care.

While the extent of Angela's brain damage has yet to be determined, the improvement she's shown has been encouraging, Burrell says. In a matter of days, the 8-year-old went from speaking just one word to reading and singing along with her siblings.

Wyatt, too, has made remarkable progress. Working with a physical therapist, he took his first steps after the accident. He's able to lift his left arm above his head and throw a ball. "Now they have to make sure he doesn't try to run away from them because he doesn't have his balance yet," Burrell says.

Wyatt. Photo courtesy of Teresa Burrell, used with permission.

Zachary has a particularly tough road ahead though. "We are asking for prayers for our little Zachary," Burrell requests, noting he's still fighting through respiratory issues and will have many more surgeries down the road. "He is really having a hard time with his internal injuries."

But the Clemens kids have "astounded" doctors with their recoveries thus far. And there's plenty of reason to hope that progress will continue in the weeks and months ahead.

It won't be easy. But these kids have an incredible support system to rely on — and lots of fun sibling time to sustain the smiles when times get tough.

Photo courtesy of Teresa Burrell, used with permission.

"We have all been moved by [the kids'] faith, courage, and support [for] one another," Burrell wrote in a Facebook post. "It is a testament of their wonderful parents."

To stay updated on the Clemens' recoveries and support the family's fundraiser, visit Burrell's page on Facebook.

More

She's started 3 organizations. And each one made a huge difference in people's lives.

True
Facebook #SheMeansBusiness

"Self-starter" should be Adrianna Tan’s middle name.

In four years' time, 30-year-old powerhouse Adrianna Tan founded three different organizations — all of which empower people and improve lives across the world.

It seems like there's nothing the young entrepreneur hasn't done; she's traveled to 30 countries (and given a TEDx Talk on curing wanderlust); advocated for gender equality, LGBT rights, and using capitalism to empower people; and figured out a way to incorporate her penchant for travel, education, food, and collaboration into successful businesses that have made life better for hundreds of people.

Image via Adrianna Tan, used with permission.

Adrianna's always on the lookout for ways she can improve her surrounding communities via technology and social outreach.

"Being from a part of the world [Asia] with so many wonderful experiences but also so many dire ones definitely shaped the way I thought about life and business.I saw no point in building a company in Asia to solve only 'first world problems,'" Tan told Upworthy.

The first organization she started is the Gyanada Foundation, which aims to fully fund education for underprivileged girls from five cities in India.

The literacy rate in India, especially for women, historically has been low. By the time Adrianna, who was born in Singapore, had spent a decade living in and traveling to India, she had seen firsthand that the bar for education for women needed to be raised. She had already been volunteering for educational nonprofits that were working with girls in need, so she simply decided to start her own.

Image via Adrianna Tan/Gyanada Foundation, used with permission.

Thanks to her foundation, 150 Indian girls receive educational scholarships each year.The foundation has done so well that it won the Public Service Award from Asia Society’s Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative, which included a $10,000 grant.

Next up, the foundation plans to expand: It's working on incorporating a sex-education-through-theater class and a coding class for their girls to get a leg up in the tech world.

Image via Gyanada Foundation/Facebook, used with permission.

In 2013, Adrianna moved on to a project that fueled her food-loving heart: Culture Kitchen.

Image via Culture Kitchen/YouTube.

Culture Kitchen provides pop-up, cross-cultural potlucks of sorts, where traditional dishes are served, and local Singaporeans and migrant workers can meet and interact.

The idea for it came out of the inordinate amount of xenophobia Adrianna was witnessing both in person and online.

"I decided I wanted to create moments for people across different ethnicities and cultures, and class, to meet and eat with each other," she explained.

Image via Adrianna Tan, used with permission.

Not surprisingly, the idea caught on, and in June of last year, Culture Kitchen was awarded $10,000 in cash and $10,000 in flights by Jetstar's Flying Start Program.

Then came Wobe, a program that aims to give Southeast Asian women the opportunity to provide for their families using only their phones.

Image via Wobe/Facebook, used with permission.

The idea for Wobe came out of an all too common problem: "How do we create income and employment to millions of women who need to provide for their families, but can't?"

To the tech-savvy Adrianna, the answer was simple: create an app. The app helps these women start their own micro-businesses, such as selling prepaid phone credit and other digital commodities that are in high demand in Southeast Asia. Right now, they are in pre-launch phase, but their projected impact looks promising — Adrianna says that if the program catches on, they expect Wobe will be able to increase the income of Indonesian women by 30% to 200%.

At the end of the day, it all comes back to collaboration.

Image via Adrianna Tan, used with permission.

Working with others across countries and cultural boundaries is behind everything Adrianna does. Her ability to collaborate with pretty much anyone anywhere is why she’s had so many successes in business — including being named a Top Female Entrepreneur of 2015 by True Global Ventures.

"I've had to learn several languages, more 'slang words' and inter-cultural ways of working with people from all backgrounds. Being able to communicate effectively helps a lot, but more than that it is the ability to 'read' situations and context. That is wonderful for business in more than one way," she said.

Social media makes creating these connections easier — Adrianna says that she's found most of her cofounders and collaborators through Facebook and other networks, and it's also how she stays in touch with the communities she's created.

"I've used social media for many years now, and I've found that it is especially effective for business in the emerging markets, where I work. ... It lets us talk directly to real people in real time, and for that Wobe is able to gain invaluable insights."

Adrianna knows you can’t always look ahead and calculate all the risks, especially when setting out as an entrepreneur — sometimes you just have to jump.

As she puts it, "Look into enhancing your risk appetite and more importantly calibrating it, and then take as much of it as you can," she said. "Nothing will move until risk is an element, and that was my most important lesson."

More

President Obama’s great response to why he went to a baseball game after a terror attack.

On the day of the deadliest terrorist attack in Europe since the November shootings in Paris, President Barack Obama gave a historic speech in Havana, Cuba — and then went to a baseball game.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

In a mid-game interview with ESPN, Obama addressed the violence in Belgium.

"This is just one more example of why the entire world has to unite against these terrorists," Obama said. "The notion that any political agenda would justify the killing of innocent people like this is something that’s beyond the pale. We are going to continue with the over 60 nations that are pounding ISIL, and we’re going to go after them."

Later in the interview, ESPN's Karl Ravich asked Obama if he "considered not coming to the game," given the tragedy unfolding in Brussels.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

The president's response should be required reading (emphasis added):

"It's always a challenge when you have a terrorist attack anywhere in the world. Particularly in this age of 24/7 news coverage, you want to be respectful and understand the gravity of the situation. But the whole premise of terrorism is to try to disrupt people's ordinary lives. And one of my most powerful memories, and one of my proudest moments as president, was watching Boston respond after the marathon. And when Ortiz went out and said, probably the only time that America didn't have a problem with somebody cursing on live TV, was when he talked about Boston and how strong it was and that it was not going to be intimidated. And that is the kind of resilience and kind of strength that we have to continually show in the face of these terrorists.

They cannot defeat America. They don't produce anything. They don't have a message that appeals to the vast majority of Muslims or the vast majority of people around the world. What they can do is scare and make people afraid. And disrupt our daily lives and divide us. And as long as we don't allow that to happen, we're going to be OK."

What Obama said today is true — many counterterrorism experts believe that terrorist groups like ISIS aim to terrorize us enough that we stop living our lives and start turning on each other.

A note is left in Brussels' Place de la Bourse after the March 22 terror attacks. Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images.

With attacks like this one, organizations like ISIS aim to exacerbate the divide between the West and the Muslim world, throw suspicion on refugees, and instigate reciprocal violence that helps them recruit.

It's evolving into one of their signature tactics — and tragically, sometimes it works.

Thankfully, many of the people of Brussels were having none of it today, coming together, offering rides to people who were stranded, and chalking messages of support in public plazas even as the dust from the attacks was still settling.

It's understandable to be scared in the wake of a terror attack. But it's when we let that fear goad us into shutting down or lashing out violently against those who don't deserve it that bad things happen.

Obama is right that ISIS wants us to be scared. They want us to be looking over our shoulders all the time. Most depressingly, they want us to be suspicious of our neighbors.

Obama is right that sometimes the most powerful weapon we have is to refuse to give into fear. On days like these, that can mean the best way to not let the terrorists win is plain and simple:

Play ball.

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

Trending Stories