A day that changed my life forever...

November 5th 2010 seems so far away...yet the events of that day are still so clear in my mind.  The only class I had that day was Dr. Smirnova's undergraduate course at 9:00 am.  I was contemplating skipping it considering my other two classes for that day were cancelled and it was raining and nasty out.  I decided to be a good student and drive the 50 minutes to and from the Mount.  I made it school perfectly fine in my little four door Honda Civic that I received two years prior as a gift from my parents.  The way home...was another story.  I've driven the Storm King Mountain a million times throughout my life. I used to use the expression, "I could drive it with my eyes closed." Boy, was I wrong! As I rounded one of the final turns coming down the mountain on my way home,  I realized just a little too late that I was driving a little too fast around the bend.  The wet roads from the rain did not help...in fact, it made it that much worse.  I lost control on my car and went head first into the mountain as I bounced off the mountain, I then crashed head first into the median where my car finally came to a sudden stop.

I don't know who the lady was that appeared at my driver's door but I wish I could Thank her today for what seemed like saving my life.  I tell people she was my "angle"...I swear she was a real person! She appeared at my door saying, "you were in a car accident!"....all I wanted to scream at the lady at the time was, "NO KIDDING!!!!!!" But I was in too much shock and panic to make out those words. I assume she thought I lost consciousness and she thought she was filling in some blanks...but unfortunately I was awake and aware the whole time. She said, "My husband is on the phone with 911...is anything hurt." All I could make out was "My dad....call my dad...you have to call my dad! I broke my leg!!!" Although I did not know exactly what was broken, the pain in my right leg was unbearable from my toes all the way to my hip. The lady was very hesitant to calling my father but finally she did. Luckily, my dad was on his way home and happened to be less than 60 seconds away from my car accident! My dad made it to the scene before the ambulance and police and when he arrived...the lady that was so kind and selfless disappeared and to this day I have no idea no she was.

When my dad arrived I began to have a hard time breathing and began sweating. The ambulance people claimed I was hyperventilating which I knew I wasn't!!! They finally got me on the stretcher and as soon as I laid down, I was experiencing a sharp pain right in my chest.  The ride to St. Luke's Hospital was horrible...every bump killed my leg and chest. When I got to the hospital, pain meds were given and xrays were taken....all to find out that St. Luke's couldn't even help me.  Apparently I was too busted up for them. So off I went to Westchester Medical Center where I spent the next 14 days recovering from Lung Surgery, where they had to put a chest tube in my lung for ten days and reconstructive ankle surgery; I have two plates and 10 screw put in.

Needless to say, I am lucky to be alive and I am grateful everyday to live the life that I live. (I am also very grateful I did not have a passenger, that person might not have been as lucky as I was). I will never take a day for granted. Life is too short to be anything but happy.