On March 29, 1997 I discovered first hand how fast a life could change in a blink of an eye. Married less then a year and loving the way life was. Just bought my first home and had not unpacked before my life took an unexpected turn. You are probably wondering what changed my life.  Was it the new marriage or was it buying my first house?   While buying a home and getting married are both major milestones in ones life nothing compares to the night before Easter of 1997.

My husband had just picked me up from work and we were to head up north to have Easter dinner with my parents.  The last thing I remember was stopping to buy a pop before getting on the freeway and what seemed to be the very next minute someone asking me what hospital I wanted to go to.

I was now in the emergency room at Bay Medical Hospital.  Still not knowing exactly what had happened only knowing that I was in a lot of pain and something was painfully wrong. I remember the nurses telling me repeatedly not to move my neck. What was happening to me?  Why cant I move my neck?  I heard my husband behind the curtain saying "take her first dont worry about me". What happened to me is Frank OK?  It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me.

I was transferred to McLaren, March 30, where I underwent a 6 to 8 hour surgery to put in artificial bone graph and metal plate into the upper part of my leg and pins and screws into my whole leg and external fixators in my leg to keep my leg from moving. They also had to put my little finger and ring finger back on and do a skin graph and they also put the external fixators on my wrist. The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital room with a tube down my throat and monitors all around me. Many of my friends and family were at the side of my bed. Later on I found out I was in ICU. 3 days after that I was put into two different rooms. The first one I shared with someone for a hole 2 minutes then I was put into a private room. They said my trauma was to bad to have me with someone else. That was cool. April 3rd, I went in for a second surgery, that was to close up the huge hole in my leg next to my knee where my bones went through and to do something else but I dont know what.

It was really hard for me to understand what happened to me at that time. A few days after my surgeries I was told that I had been in a serious car accident, but was given no details at the time. Later after everyone thought I was stable enough to understand what happened my family told me.

Frank and I were on our way up north, as you already know when a drunk driver was on I-75 and was doing U-turns in the middle of the expressway. He would be driving north then all of a sudden be driving south on the North Bound lane. Frank swerved to stop a head on and he, the drunk, hit the front end of the passenger side of the truck we were driving and we rolled 3 times. Frank was able to get out of the vehicle but I was unable. I was trapped in the truck.  He came to my side of the truck to see if I was all right but I would not respond to his talking to me.  He yelled for help and an officer came running.  The officer checked my pulse and said that I was alive.  At that point I started screaming in pain.  They had to use the Jaws of Life to get me out. The truck was destroyed but we were alive. That was all that mattered.

I went through a lot of pain from physical therapy and occupational therapy.  They were teaching me how to get out of bed and back in, how to use the wheelchair and now to use my fingers.  They took blood out of me 3 times a day to make sure my blood count was good.  I didnt want to eat much; all I would eat when I did was carrots and ice cream.  My family would bring me in all my favorite foods but I would just take a little bite of each and not want anymore.  I was scared, scared of what my life would be like now and what my future would hold for me. 

I was out of the hospital April 25, with a lot of pain and a lot of fear. The fear of being in a car and the fear of life. What was life going to be for me now? Was I ever going to be able to walk and work again? Will my life be back to normal? I had all these questions and no answers.  It was really hard for me when I got home. Someone had to bath me, help me sit on the toilet, dress me, comb my hair and even the easiest thing such as eating was hard for me to do alone.  So you know how hard it is for someone to have someone else take care of you like you were a child again at the age of 24? I was depressed and couldnt do anything about it. Every night I would cry myself to sleep and everyday a tear or two would roll down my face.  Just sitting in the wheelchair crying and seeing if I could live each and everyday. 

When I left my house on March 29, I expected to have Easter with my family and return home and go to work the day after Easter. But instead I came home 29 days later depressed and not having the freedom that we all take for granted, was ripped away from me at the blink of an eye.  The simplest little things such as eating were hard for me. I was right handed and that was injured and the left was not trained to work that good. I lived in my wheelchair or my bed. No sitting on the couch and relaxing. Cries for help every night but no one seemed to respond. Having to have someone here for me 24 hours a day 7 days a week just in case I had to go to the bathroom. This accident not only hurt me but my husband, our relationship, and my family. 

Everyone had guilt, including myself. They all thought it was their fault. They always said "IF ONLY".   My husband felt guilty cause he was driving and wasnt hurt as severely as I was.  My mom and dad had the guilt cause she loaned us her truck and gave us money to go and be with her for Easter while my dad forgot to plug in the cell phone antenna so we could call them and tell them that we were on our way and to see if they wanted us to stop and get a head light for the truck.  I also didnt really want to go something in my stomach was telling me not to but since I could not reach them we went anyways.  Wondering what my guilt was?  I kept telling my mom that I wanted to spend Easter with her and my dad. Not alone with just my husband, but with them.  So I feel in a way that I forced my mom to give me the money to go, otherwise I would have just spent Easter at home.  Not in a hospital fighting for my life. 

Scott the drunk driver that hit me was put into jail the same night of the accident but was released on bond.  The same day I was released from the hospital he was also hit by a drink driver and ended up in the hospital.  The only reason I know this is cause my attorney was trying to find him and found him in the hospital.  Once he was released from the hospital he ran and hid.  My attorney hired a private investigator to find him and every time we found him we found him in jail, but for some reason they would release him on bond and he would run again.  He never showed up for the court dates that were scheduled.  My mother and I would drive to Bay City for court and sit there for hours and then be told that he wasnt showing, they had no idea where he was.  We drove there 3 times.  Finally I believe in March of 99 I had my day in court with him.  The judge let him and I talk to each other.  I was able to tell Scott what all he had done to me and what I wasnt able to do ever again.  Scott wanted me to forgive him but I couldnt not with the pain that I was in and the pain I had to live with for the rest of my life.  I read my victims statement report to the judge and to Scott and the judge told me after I read it that with what I went through medically that I didnt need to read it but it helped him understand how serious I was and to let Scott know too.  The judge sentenced him to 5 to 7 ½ years for DUI and doing severe bodily injury.  My belief is that he should have gotten more time since I have to serve a life sentence he should have to serve more time then 5 to 7 ½ years.

In my eyes, laws for drinking and driving should be a lot harder on those that kill someone or injured someone like I was.  When drunk drivers get released from prison most of them get to go back and live a normal life while the victims live a life of pain and wondering what their life will be like in the future. 

Since the date of my accident I have under went 24 surgeries to repair broken bones, removal of glass and bone, and to remove the metal fixators out of my leg and arm.  The doctors have told me that at the age of 28 I already have arthritics of a 60 year old. My body has many scars on it but I have learned to live with those.  They just show that I won a battle that no one thought I would win.   My body will never be the same as it was before the accident.  I will always have problems with my leg and my fingers.  My walking distance will always be short term and the bending of my leg will never bend like my other one does.  My fingers will never get back all the feeling they once had and wont bend like the others do.  After a year in a wheelchair I learned how to walk again.  Took me another year to learn how to walk with no assistance such as a walker, crutches and a cane.  I now walk on my own two feet.  Enjoying my life as much as I can.  I am now divorced from my husband and getting remarried in June of 2002 to a wonderful man that accepts me for who I am and what I am going through.