A good friend of mine had an extremely traumatic TBI experience and, given my trade, I feel it’s my duty to report. She was an absolute victim in the entire occurrence. Most people I’ve met were victims, but this story stood out to me as she wasn’t moving quickly at all. She was walking across the street (in a cross walk) and hit by a driver, who was speeding, drunk and high. She wasn’t doing a thing wrong, simply crossing the street to her car after work, at about 7 pm on October 17th. To give the driver some credit (not that he deserves any) the crosswalk wasn’t marked & there was no flashing walk light.
After being hit, she flew about 6 feet up in the air, only to come down on the driver’s windshield. She then flew back up & hit the ground.
Luckily, a cafe next to her work had people eating outside that witnessed the whole thing & called 911. 911 took her to Harborview Hospital & then, in December, she was moved to a nursing home in Puyallup, Washington. In total, she was in a comatose state for 4 months, spent 2 months slowly awakening, and 2 more months preparing to move home.
Ounce home, she went to therapy everyday for a few years. She tried to attend a community college & work, to no avail. In 2009 she learned of a program for people with learning disabilities that allows them to graduate with a degree.
She’s now living alone & is volunteering at the Brain Injury Alliance of Washington. The accident happened just 2 weeks after she turned 20. She is a Libra & loves both rock and reggae + funny movies. After she watches scary movies, she must sleep w/ all her lights on. Goodness knows why ;). She also loves to work out, hang with friends & go to concerts.
She’s amazing. The spirit of life & love.
And a recent personal note from her: “I feel I overcame this because I believe in myself, and never give up!”