The day I was born

I woke up, “WHERE AM I” no words were even coming out.. was I even awake??? I could not speak. I tried to look around and I couldn’t move. The last thing I remember, I was in Sonny’s with my boyfriend and his parents, we were having a conversation. It had been weeks…. I was never at Sonny’s.. I didn’t have a boyfriend either. It was the most recent lucid dream… one of many. I lifted my hands and ripped every tube and IV out of my body. They call this some sort of state of shock. They, being the doctors at the hospital I had been sedated in for weeks.

I guess we should start from the beginning, the story I was told is completely word of mouth from an innocent bystander, no, he is so much more than that, he’s the man who saved my life. I don’t remember anything about March 13, 2016, the month before, and recently.. I’ve looked back on pictures and realized I don’t remember a lot of things. I do remember a close group of friends I had, doing a lot of things together and almost always together and inseparable. My best friends.

It was like every other night, I’m assuming, hanging out, drinking, having fun. No one ever knows when some sort of tragedy will happen, what happened that night was a tragedy. I stress myself out trying to remember details, all I have are pictures. It took me months to get the police report, to find the man who witnessed what happened, to get the story and to thank him for my life. When I did finally get his name I looked every inch of the internet for his phone number… I found it. His name is Jack. I called him immediately and told him who I was, he started off with this joke, it still makes me laugh, I called, he answered, I said, “Hi, is this Jack ? My name is April..” he paused for a moment and said, “APRIL! You’re the woman who stood me up the other night, I’ve been suicidal waiting day and night for your call!!!!!!” I had NO idea how to even respond, I was already in tears from finding him in the first place.. “No sir, though I am sorry about the woman who stood you up, (what else could I say) I’m the young woman who you pulled out of the car from the car accident” then it got quiet. Please keep in mind, this is a married man. He thought I was a telemarketer. Once upon a time, I was. He was happy to hear from me, and I cried and thanked him.. over and over and over. I asked if I could come by and talk, and a week later, I showed up to his house and met him for the first time, and his wonderful wife. We sat down and this 68 year old man began telling me a story about how a little gold Honda sped by him going 100 mph, on March 13 around 4 am… he was just getting home from a gig with his band. His road turned from gravel to dirt and he said the car lost control and flipped four times, scaled a fence, without touching it, and landed on the roof of the car. He got to us, in 2 minutes, jumped the fence because the owners had it locked, he said when he got to the car the wheels were still spinning. I forgot to mention, I was with my best friend at the time… she was driving and I was the passenger. Jack heard her screaming, he says he knew she was alive, he couldn’t open my door, and he said I was hanging there lifeless by my seatbelt. ALL IN TWO MINUTES. He hopped that fence again, this 68 year old man!!!! He woke up his wife and told her to call 911. Got a knife from the kitchen and hopped right back over that fence. The driver was still screaming. He couldn’t open the door, so he had to break it, he also had to get stitches, and his wedding ring re banded. I feel horrible about that, but he’s good now.

He was finally able to pry the door open, and cut me out of my seatbelt, he says, he gently removed my lifeless body out of the car and placed me on the ground, I wasn’t breathing. All in two minutes, maybe three. I’ll never be able to tell you how he got me to breathe, but he did. He saved my life. I will forever owe him my life. I got bay flighted to a Hudson hospital where they specialize in my type of injuries, my spine was broken in two places, I had to have emergency surgery. A day or two later, my body started to fail, my organs were shutting down, and they got in contact with my mother. She was the one who had to decide wether I’d want to go, or have an emergency tracheotomy. I’m still here. She chose the trache. Life is crazy, but what is even crazier is how the human body works, I had been sedated so long when I woke up, I was pretty confused and couldn’t talk, or move. I still remember the first time I heard myself speak, I cried, I cried so much the nurses cried too. I remember my first step, in the hospital, with my walker.. like a little old lady. I remember wanting to give up so many times because it was so hard. I remembered why I never gave up, that was because of my children.

It has been 8 months, I never went to rehab, I taught myself to walk again, to talk again, and I quit taking pain pills before the doctor told me to, I didn’t like the way they made me feel and I couldn’t monitor my pain being high all the time. I tell this story and people say I’m a walking miracle. I fought and I continue to fight and I look at life in a different way than I had before, I wasn’t the best person, from what I remember and what I’ve been told. I’m here now, i have purpose and there’s a reason why I didn’t die that night. I’m still learning every day like we all are. It’s been a long road and it’s going to be longer and longer, but I’m focused, I’m breathing and I couldn’t really ask for anything other than that.

The rest is yet to come.