At the wrong place at exactly the wrong time..
Sept 12th, 2019 I woke up at 5am to go to my gym class at 0520. I went to the class and was coming home to get ready for work and take my daughter to school. I am a nurse and she was a senior in high school. I never made it there. I was a a 1/2 mile from my house on one of my running routes when i was hit at 70+ mph by a truck. When I didn’t come home or answer my phone my daughter went to my parents house and woke up my father. They then retraced my route home and drove up on the accident site. Thank god Ii was already trauma hawked out and they didn’t have to see me. By the time they got to my trauma facility I was already in surgery. I was in surgery for 8 hours and they were told to prepare for the worst because it didn’t look good. I went from surgery to interventional radiology for more procedures to look for more bleeding then to icu. They then had to take me back that night for round two of surgery because I was still having internal bleeding. It wasn’t till day 2 that my trauma surgeon gave my family some hope. I woke up one week later. I was on the ventilator for one week. When i woke up I was told that I almost died, I had 3 surgeries two of which were to just keep me alive and the 3rd was for my leg which i broke both bones. I was unable to talk due to a paralyzed vocal cord and unable to walk due to multiple injuries. My injuries were a traumatic brain injury, fractured left cheek bone. fractured left clavicle,massive internal bleeding, collapsed left lung, bilateral pelvic fractures 4 in total, bilateral sacral fracture which is my butt bone, left tibia/fibula fracture, 2 places in my back were fractured. I received enough blood to replace my entire blood volume 3 times over. I was then told the reason of my crash was because 4 teenagers from one county south of mine researched rich neighborhoods so they could rob. They committed multiple crimes that night including armed robbery,home invasion and vehicle theft. They were running from the police at the time they hit my car. They did not stop and left me on the side of the road. People walking their dog called 911. I had to learn to walk and talk again, I spent 5 weeks on strict bedrest, I had multiple complications and a total of 5 surgeries. I went 90 days without a shower, I couldn’t even clean myself after going to the bathroom due to my injuries so someone had to help me. I went from completely independent to being total care at the age of 33. I spent 7 weeks in my trauma facility. It was and will always be the hardest thing I have had to do. I worked everyday and still do. Although physically I am so much better the emotional road is a lot slower. Because they were not caught on scene it was unsure who was driving so we had to wait for dna to come back to be able to charge who was driving the car. The dna didn’t come back till Dec, 2020. We still have not gone to court yet although he is in jail. The trauma has taught me that you never really know someone story so always be kind you don’t know what their internal fight is. It is ok to have bad day 18 months later i still have them just try to not stay in that mindframe because it only hurts your recovery. Cry,scream yell do whatever you have to do then straighten your crown and continue your recovery like the rock star you are. I for the life of me can’t understand why things like this happen the only thing i cant say is if telling my story gives someone strength for their battle and to see the light then i will tell it a thousand times over. I had an army behind me during my recovery but I never had someone that knew what I was going through and I wish I had. This network is amazing.
