My story: Chapter Twenty
I Thought My Life Was Over
Accident-prone
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Running off the road, my little SUV out of control, I thought my life was over. The vehicle began to tip over. I was traveling on two tires headed towards a tree when my mind came back to me and I heard “You are going to be okay.” and “Stop!”.
I realized then that my foot was firmly pressed down on the gas peddle and I removed it and pushed the brake as hard as I could. My car slowed and then slammed down, upright. The airbags deployed into my arms and face, pain shooting through my body. I sat there stunned for a moment and then tried to open the door. I had to push with all my strength and heard bending metal as the door opened enough for me to squeeze through to the outside.
A woman was calling out to me, asking if I was ok. I stood there looking at the front wheel which was now lying horizontally and knew I had totaled my car. My first thought was how I would get to work the next day and how I was going to buy a new car and rent an apartment.
I looked down at my body and then told the woman I thought I was fine. She told me how she had watched me lose control and how it looked like I was going to roll my car. I looked at where I had landed and saw that I would have hit a tree head-on if I had not stopped when I did.
I walked around to the other side of my car, opened the door, picked up my coffee mug, and set it back in the cupholder. I began to straighten my things and then sat down on the seat, head in my hands.
I heard sirens in the distance and I called the shelter director to let her know what had happened and she told me she was on her way to help me.
The police arrived and began to question me about what had happened. I was still in a daze and not sure what they expected me to tell them but I answered as best I could. I had run off the road and had gone down into the drainage ditch alongside the narrow shoulder. Instead of hitting the brakes and regaining control of the vehicle I had panicked and hit the gas until I realized what I was doing and could stop.
The woman from the shelter arrived and for some reason, I agreed to go via ambulance to the hospital to get checked out instead of having her take me. I was strapped on the gurney and wheeled into the ambulance. I don’t remember much of the short 2-mile drive to the emergency room.
At the emergency room, I was given some Tylenol and a chest X-ray to be sure there was no internal damage from the seat belt. Every time I started to cry the two male nurses would make a joke so I would laugh instead. The shelter director sat with me and then drove me home after I was released from the hospital.
The airbag had hit me square in the mouth and I had bruising inside my lower lip. My hands were burnt from the chemicals in the airbag and I had an impressive bruise on my forearm. My shoulder was a little sore from where I had made contact with the seatbelt. I knew wearing my seatbelt had kept me in the driver’s seat when my SUV had started to tip and given me the time I needed to slam on the brakes.
After I got back to the shelter the tragedy of losing my vehicle hit me pretty hard. How was I going to work? I had a long drive every day and no one to carpool with.
I had been so close to moving out of the shelter and now I felt the months stretch out in front of me before I would be able to get the money together again to rent a home.
I wrapped myself up in bed and didn’t move from my room for the rest of the day. I didn’t know what else to do but give up for a few hours.
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