CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — 54-year-old Teresa McCord was on her way to get an upgrade on her motorcycle in Myrtle Beach when tragedy struck. 

“She texted us when she first got on the road, texted us when she made her first pit stop,” said Kadeem McCord, one of Teresa’s sons.

Kadeem says that was the last time they heard from her. 

Last Friday, he says his cousin called for an emergency family meeting, where he learned the heartbreaking news that she was dead.

“I didn’t even make it in the house she told us as I was walking up the driveway, I just collapsed, it’s still unreal to think about,” Kadeem said.

Sonny Collins, South Carolina Highway Patrol’s public information officer, says Teresa was in the beach bound lanes when she turned left in front of a Honda Accord on Highway 501 in Conway. 

Her motorcycle was struck by the Honda Accord, and then hit again by a FedEx tractor-trailer, which also going northbound. 

She died shortly after. 

Kadeem says she’d been bike riding for nearly 15 years, and it was a passion of hers. 

“The first thing going through my head is I hope she didn’t suffer, I hope she wasn’t on the side of the road just suffering,” he stated.

Despite the heartbreak, Kadeem wants the community to remember her for the fearless and caring woman she was. 

The mother of three spent 20 years as a Navy sailor before she retired and began work as a systems engineer in Williamsburg. But above all else, he says she lifted others up.

“She was real big on each one, teach one, just being helpful to others, she had a really big sense of community, so just trying to preserve that and keep that moving forward,” he said. 

Neither the driver of the Honda Accord or FedEx tractor-trailer has been charged in the crash.

Teresa McCord’s funeral is on Saturday.