Our community knows both the tragic and heroic stories of Queena Phu. Years later after her tragic story, Phu continues to thrive.
“Although Queena has had to stay home for a long time as a precaution during the pandemic, she still did maintain most of her therapy schedule,” said her mother, Vanna Nguyen. “She has been as hard at work as ever. She smiles through most of her home therapy visits and her sessions at Stay in Step Recovery Center.”
Phu’s life story was a recent episode on Lifetime’s #TextMeWhenYouGetHome series. The documentary aired on August 15 and can be watched on the Lifetime app, Hulu Live on demand and is available for rent on Amazon.
“In February, we received a contact from AMS pictures via our contact form on Queena’s website,” Vanna said. “They had been researching stories of women who had been the victim of violence so they could tell their story in their own words and found Queena’s story and blog while doing their research. We filmed the interviews on March 9, and the show was released August 15 of this year.”
Since the attack in 2008, Phu’s cognitive impairments due to her traumatic brain injury have made it harder for Phu to express her thoughts in an organized manner.
“For 14 years, she has been expressing her thoughts and feelings through facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language,” Nguyen said. “She has struggled to modulate self-control and self-awareness, and as a result she can sometimes react impulsively in social situations. She was always a more reserved person, even before the attack, so being in the limelight and having so much personal information shared has been hard for her.”
According to Nguyen, Phu never liked having her life story being in the media over and over again, but this year, Phu has started to learn to be proud of herself.
“We hope that this documentary will reach people all around the world, raising awareness about safety and self-defense,” Nguyen said. “We hope that Queena’s story will touch people who have gone through traumatic or very low points in their lives and show them that you can turn your life around if you never give up.”
If you would like to learn more about Phu, you can visit her website at www.joinqueena.com.
