December 20th, 1997. I was 18 years old, a recent High School graduate and living on my own. I thought my life was wonderful. I was getting ready to leave for Florida the next day. What I was not planning for was the day that would change my life forever.
 
     December 21st 1997. I have no memory of this day. What I know about it was told to me. Needless to say, I did not get to Florida. The day before I had made arrangements to have lunch with my mother as a goodbye before leaving. I had been living in a friend's spare room two miles away from my parents house. I can recall that I needed to go to my parent's house for a wrench since my cat had accidentally knocked my bracelet into the sink the night before. Unfortunately I never made it. Being December it was icy outside. I began the two mile drive up the road from my apartment to my parents house. This is a steep "S" curve road in the country with plenty of trees. I was going about 45 mph around one of the curves when I hit a patch of black ice and lost control of my car. The Car did a 360 and spun right into a tree.
 
         When the Car hit the tree I was slammed forward into the steering wheel. My seat belt is the only thing that saved my life. The amazing part about it is that I don t have any clue what made me put my seat belt on that day. I was only going two miles up the road and normally would not have put it on to go that far.
        
        I think I was very blessed that day. The tree I hit was in a wonderful older couples  driveway-- Harriet and Thomas Wilson. Harriet instantly went into mother mode and crawled into the car with me. Because of this, she will always be my Guardian angel. She held me and kept repeating to me, "Its Okay. Momma is here!" until the paramedics got there. She did not want me moving around more then I needed too. When the paramedics arrived it was clear that they needed to use the Jaws of Life to get me out of the car. After prying the roof off my car, cutting the car apart, and cutting off the steering wheel they got me out. Because of the weather conditions I was not able to be Life Flighted to Portland area hospitals. One Life Flight was in use and the other was unable to land due to the conditions in the area.
 
       An ambulance rushed me the 30 minutes to Salem Memorial Hospital. In the mean time, my mother, realizing I was late, decided to drive down to see me. Shortly after the ambulance had taken me away, my mother came upon the accident. She freaked. She was so upset, she went back to her house (after the cops let her go home alone) and began screaming like bloody murder. The neighbors rushed over because they thought she was being attacked. My Dad came out of the house and managed to get my mother to calm down long enough to explain what had happened. My sister immediately began a phone tree to let people know what had happened. My boyfriend at the time, Jake, was called and he rushed to the hospital to be by my side. When I arrived at the Emergency Room of the Hospital, I suffered a Grand Mal Seizure. According to the neurosurgeon, this is often experienced after a head trauma. Since I had bit a nurse during the seizure, they restrained me by tying me to the bed. As far as!
 I know, I suffered no swelling in region of the head.
 
     My Glasses were smashed, my eyelid was cut, and my forehead had a huge part of it missing. This required that my forehead be reconstructed by a plastic surgeon while I was still in the ER. Due to the seizure, and the fact that I had suffered a severe head trauma, I stayed in the Intensive Care Unit overnight.
 
    As I said, all of this was told to me later because I don t remember any of it. Here's what I do remember.
 
    I woke up in the Intensive Care Unit the next day because I heard Jake talking. Trying to get out of bed, I asked him if we were late for the airport. I was still tied to the bed though and this confused me. My head was black and blue and all stitched up. My knees were scraped and cut, my ankle sprained, and my abdomen was nicely bruised from the seat belt. Sadly, at the I had no idea about the things that I would have to live with for the rest of my life. I didn t know that there would be short term memory loss, constant stomach problems, loss of concentration and other mental issues that are associated with brain trauma. Now, I am completely aware and have experienced this issues. I am no longer able to hold down a full time job or do some of the things that I once enjoyed.
 
    A year prior to my accident, I had been diagnosed with a rare anger issue called Intermittent Explosive Disorder. I also had Depression, and spurts of Highs like Manic Depression and was being treated with a variety of medications. Because there was very little research about the interactions between the Lithium I was taking and the seizure medication Dilanton that they put me, I spent the next nine months of my life in bed. I was very ill, always throwing up and to the point where I would not leave the house without my mother. It put a real strain on both my family and Jake.
 
   Today, five years later, I am happy to say that I live on my own and I have my life under control. I have worked very hard with the doctors and therapists to overcome my disabilities and I have been able to get off the majority of the medications that I had to take. I have come to realize that if I left this earth today, I would hurt a lot of people. I have had a tremendous support system and this has helped me very much.
 
   The only thing I have not enjoyed dealing with is a medical profession that will not take me seriously. At times they tell me that I am not ill when I experience every day problems. I have learned to be persistent in asking for the help I need. I have also come to realize that I am a very important part of other people's lives, even if they don't always say so.
 
If you too are a survivor, I d like you to always remember that life is a very beautiful thing. Don t ever give up on yourself. Everyone has something to offer to others. Everyone has a place in this world. God willing, you will find your place just like I have done.