Motorcycle accident
My name is Beth and I am so thankful to be here to tell my story. September 27th 2009 started like many other days. I was on a benefit motor cycle ride with a family friend and my parents. I always rode with him because my mom rode with my dad and I love to ride. It was a cool rainy day but it was a good ride. We were about 5 miles from our final destination for the day. No one is really sure what happened but we are assuming it had something to do with the wet roads. We went off the road and up a small grass hill. I remember being scared and holding on to Jeff but it seemed like we would be able to ride it back out to the road. That didn’t happen. The bike bottomed out and threw Jeff and I. We hit a telephone pole estimated at around 45 mph. I was initially unconscious,and when I woke up I remember first thinking that I couldn’t breath and knowing if I didn’t I would die, I took a deep breath and then I felt ok. I thought I was fine. There was immediately a bunch of people around us. I remember some faces but not all. The one women I knew was kneeling and talking by my face. I insisted I was fine and I needed her to take my helmet and my jacket off and let me get up. Thankfully she didn’t do those things. EMS arrived very quickly. I don’t remember seeing much after this just hearing things, hearing my mom screaming “my baby” and the EMT yelling for me to stay awake and stay with him. I just wanted to go to sleep. I told him to tell my mom that I was fine, my belly and my neck just hurt. About 30 min after the call came in I was in the Trauma bay at CMC in Scranton. They assessed and stabilized me and admitted me to ICU. I had a broken C2 vertebrae, all of my ribs on the right side were broke, both lungs collapsed, and my kidney and liver were ruptured. The first four days my family thought things were going fairly well. I was awake and talking to them. The Dr’s were attempting to control my bleeding without invasive surgery. Unfortunately those attempts were unsuccessful. They determined that I would need to have open abdominal surgery but at that point I was not stable enough for surgery. They prepared my family for me not to make it through the night. My whole family and many friends were at the hospital and prayed for a miracle. A miracle happened that night. My vital signs improved and I was stable enough to attempt surgery. I made it through the first surgery and they kept me open and did multiple other surgeries over the next few days before closing me with a large section of mesh due to the swelling. I was put in an induced coma and ventilated. There are more details in between but I spent 19 days in the ICU and 11 days on the trauma floor. My family was willing to be trained to take care of me at home rather than going to rehab. I went home with a neck collar, a feeding tube, a wound vac on my abdomen and a pic line for TPN. Recovering was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I was 17 and it was my senior year of high school. I was able to return to school in January half days and graduate on time. The wound on my stomach was about the size of a football and never completely healed. After 2 1/2 years we decided it was time to give in and have it closed. I was initially against that because I was living a relatively normal life and didn’t want to have to recover again. But it was painful and I agreed. I had plastic surgery to close it. It was more extensive and painful than we had anticipated but since recovering from that I am 100% healed. I had an amazing support system from my whole family, friends and all of the hospital staff involved in my care. I would not have made it with out everyone of them. I am currently working at the hospital that saved my life as a nurse aide and will transition into an RN position following graduation in May to work on trauma stepdown unit. I have a beautiful 2 year old boy which is amazing. With my extensive abdominal surgery we were not sure if I was going to be able to safely carry a baby but I did with no complications. I am so incredibly blessed and hope to be able to encourage other people going through similar situations.
