Traveling through life as a full-time college student, an ambulance and police cars were traveling down the road with me.
The ambulance was my transportation from The University of Memphis campus to the Regional Medical Center (The Med).
I came to The University of Memphis in the fall of 1996. During my second semester of college, on Jan. 22, 1997, my life changed forever. I had parked in one of the parking lots located on Southern Avenue. As I was trying to cross the street, I was hit by a car. I'm not sure if I did not see the car or if the driver did not see me. I do not remember the accident at all. I only know what people have told me about that day.
When the ambulance arrived, I was unconscious. I was rushed to The Med, and my parents were called. When my parents arrived at the hospital, they thought that I had just been in a car accident -- they thought that I was hit by a car while driving, not walking.
This was the second time my parents had been through this -- 15 years earlier my brother had been hit by a car also.
The next day, my parents were told that I was being prepped for surgery. The doctors warned them that if I had the surgery I might die, but if I did not have the surgery I would definitely die.
The surgery was a success, but I was in a coma for three months. While I was in a coma, my brain began to swell outside of my skull. Dr. Morris Ray, head of Semmes-Murphy Clinic, began to do multiple tests to determine why my brain was swelling and discovered that I had multiple blood clots all over my body, including one in my brain.
The blood clots were removed, which meant that my long brunette hair had to be shaved and part of the right frontal lobe of my brain had to be removed. The frontal lobe is involved in planning, organizing, problem solving, selective attention, personality and a variety of "higher cognitive functions," including behavior and emotions. I also had a shunt put in the back of my head to keep fluid from being trapped in my brain.
One long-term effect of having part of my brain removed is that I've lost my sense of smell. I would do anything to be able to smell a pot of coffee again.
One amazing thing about my accident is the fact that I did not break any bones in my body. I also have no scars on my face from the accident. But I did tear three of the four ligaments in each knee, and I believe my recovery would have been easier with broken legs than with torn ligaments. Dr. Barry Phillips of Campbell Clinic Orthopedics performed my restructuring surgery and monitored my physical therapy.Ironically, the paramedic who transferred me from The Med to Baptist Rehabilitation Hospital was the same paramedic who had picked up my brother when he was hit by a car.
It was a year and a half before I was able to return to school and when I returned, I could only take one or two classes for a while.
My recovery was long and hard, but I survived. Many people have told me what a miracle I am, because there were days when my parents did not know if it would be my last.
I am now in my last semester at The University of Memphis. It has been a long hard life as a student, but I am getting ready to graduate. To those who may think they can't survive life in college, I say do not give up. I experienced traumatic brain injury, and I am graduating in May.
