The Miracle Lady

I was introduced to a wonderful lady today while getting a pedicure.  She was an older woman with a big smile on her lovely face.  While chatting with other clients about general things, someone asked her to tell me about the accident she was in.  It was a near death experience and I never would have guessed from looking at her.

She had just moved to Arizona and was traveling on the I-17 early one morning.  Her daughter was getting married the following week and she was driving to a dress fitting.  Her last memory before the accident was looking at the "Bumble Bee" exit sign and thinking "what a cute name for a road".  Her next memory was of being air-lifted to a hospital.  

Later she had gathered information from people who were on the scene.  Some of these nice helpers followed up with her weeks later.  It seems no one knows what caused the accident.  There was a small red truck that left the scene, large tire remnants were on the highway and her SUV had rolled several times.  

When a trucker and another man stopped to help, she was hanging from the window still strapped in her seat belt and they noticed gas leaking around the vehicle.  The trucker had the in-site to spray a fire repellant.  Other people showing up at the accident site thought she was dead.  But the man who kept in contact with her said he knew she was alive because her eyes were following him around.

She didn't give me all the details on her injuries, but I know she had a spinal surgery, a broken jaw (and now missing a bone), shoulder and collar bone surgery.  

I'm sure she must have endured many painful months and to top it all off, missed her daughters wedding!

I was really struck by her positive attitude, winning smile and friendly demeanor.  I don't know if I will ever cross paths with her again, but I will never forget her miracle story.