Success & Service: Mena helping with spinal cord research

Modesto’s Tamara Mena, who at 19 years old survived an auto accident in 2005 that killed her boyfriend and left her paraplegic, will participate in a worldwide fundraising effort for spinal cord research.

The May 3 event is titled the Wings for Life World Run and will raise money for Wings for Life, a spinal cord research foundation. Last year’s inaugural event raised $4.1 million for life-changing research projects and clinical trials around the globe. This year’s event will include runs in two U.S. locations: Santa Clarita, in Southern California, and Sunrise, Fla. See a video of Mena, 28, posted on YouTube.

After her accident, the Davis High School graduate returned to school at Modesto Junior College and in 2011 graduated from California State University, Stanislaus. She’s a model and a motivational speaker.

2 Valley men serving aboard Navy carrier

Two Valley residents are serving aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.

Lt. Antonio Barcelos, a 1996 Turlock High graduate, is an electrical officer aboard the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered carrier based in San Diego. He coordinates and manages the maintenance for the ship’s radar, navigation and aircraft landing systems.

Petty Officer 3rd Class John Visaya is among the Reagan’s aviation ordnancemen. Visaya graduated from Sierra High in Lathrop in 2009. He builds, prepares and transports ordnance for the aircraft aboard ship.

Named in honor of former President Ronald Reagan, the carrier is longer than three football fields, at nearly 1,100 feet long. The ship is 252 feet wide and weighs more than 100,000 tons. Two nuclear reactors can push the ship through the water at nearly 35 mph. It is one of only 10 operational aircraft carriers in the Navy today.

This story was originally published April 4, 2015 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Success & Service: Mena helping with spinal cord research."