It was a sunny afternoon on April 23, 2011. My friends Sherry, Henry, and I were going to Leavenworth, Washington; it is a beautiful town that has German style buildings and delicious German grilled pig feet. It is about two hours driving distance from downtown Seattle. I was on the way to Leavenworth, but I never made it there and I don’t think I would ever try and go again for the rest of my life.
Sherry was driving us that day, and I was sitting in the back. There were a lot of mountain roads on the way, and it was a beautiful drive there. We were listening to music and discussing what we were going to do when we arrived to Leavenworth. There was a fork in the road in front of us, and Sherry veered right. When she turned right, she realized we were going the wrong way. So she made a U turn to drive back to the right way. At that moment, Sherry lost control. That was the last thing I remembered before the car accident.
When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see anything and I realized I was upside down. The music was still playing. I was thinking, “Are we flipped over?” I was in a lot of pain; I haven’t felt this kind of hurt before. I tried to move my fingers; yes, I could feel my fingers move, but it felt weird. Then, I tried moving my toes, and yes, I could feel my toes moving, but it felt off as well. My body was becoming numb as the time passed. About 10 minutes after, someone talked to me; he was a paramedic. “ Can you hear me, ma ‘am?” he said.
“Yes.” I said.
“Please, don’t move. We are trying to get you out of the car.” he said.
“Okay.” I replied.
It took the paramedics about one hour to get me out of the car because it was a two door car. I was in the back, so they had to cut the car apart. During that time, a paramedic woman kept talking to me to make sure that I was awake. She was asking me questions like “What’s your name?” “Where do you live?” “ Where are you going?” and “Who is the president of the United States?” she asked. “Oh, God! I don’t really care who the President of the United States,” I said to myself. “Obama,” I said out loud to her. After almost an hour, I was finally out of the car. Then, a second round of pain hit my body. The pain was intense. I screamed and said” It hurt.” ” Just scream. What you can do now is scream!” one of the paramedic said. The paramedics lifted me into the ambulance and I fell asleep.
Our car had crossed the center line, left the road and struck a telephone pole. Sherry and I were in serious condition and were airlifted to the hospital. Henry’s condition was fine and he was taken to another hospital. I learned this information from a newspaper afterwards. By the way, I got a $13,000 bill from the air ambulance. It’s the most expensive ride that I have never remembered!
I stayed in the intensive care unit for six days; I couldn’t breathe by myself at that time. There were a lot of tubes in my body, and I had fractures in my right arm, right leg, and right side of my ribs. My friend Sherry had fractures in her spine, her sensory nerves were broken, and her lower body became paraplegic. She won’t be able to walk for the rest of her life.
I was in a wheelchair for six months; I had to learn how to walk all over again. Seriously, I didn’t remember how to walk at all, even one step was difficult for me. I was in physical therapy for almost one year after the car accident. It was a really hard time for me.
I consider myself lucky; all of my injuries could be healed. All I have to say is, “ Drive safe and drive slowly.” And I always tell my friends, ”One second can change your whole life.”
