1999. I had just got engaged and our friends took us out for dinner and a movie. On the way back we were hit by a drunk driver who had stolen a taxi and was running from police. My fiance and I were in the back of a Topaz and we were hit from behind, spun into another lane and struck again by another oncoming car. My friend who was driving and his wife had minor injuries but myself and my fiance were in bad shape. She had a shattered pelvis from the lap belt and when they used the jaws of life to get to us they had to pry the frame of the car from around her head. She was in a coma for a week but she came out of it. My upper right arm was snapped so bad the bone shot out of it and it was hanging on by tendons. My right hip was destroyed and the lap belt damaged my intestines so bad they said another quarter inch and I would have had a colostomy bag. My face had shattered on impact with the headrest in front of me. By the time they got me to the hospital I was close to death from bleeding out but externally and internally. Was rushed into surgery where they operated to stop the bleeding in my organs and I flatlined. Was dead for a good 6 minutes before they revived me. No, didn't see a white light or anything like that, at least not that I remember. Had to have bags and bags of blood transfused into me and it was touch and go if I would live as my body kept rejecting the blood. Finally when they got me from critical to stable they went in and put a steel rod and plate in my upper right arm and put my hip back together with pins and a big screw. Spent two months more in hospital and then had to learn to walk again. They said I would probably walk with a limp and a cane for the rest of my life. I also had major damage to the radial nerve in my right arm and I could not feel or move my right hand or fingers. I had to wear this glove like thing with elastics that go on the fingers and try to move them as therapy.It took over a year to get use of that hand back and it still does not work right. I went at therapy like a man possessed! No damn way I was going to let this stop me from the things I wanted to do. Not only did I recover much better than they thought but I went and completed my police training and getting my Certificate Of Results. Over the past couple years things are starting to go South though. I developed Ulcerative Colitis that had me in agony before I got it under control. I have to be very careful not to get constipated as I don't have much bowel to work with and can be a life threatening situation if I get a blockage. I did get one once and I could not stop throwing up, was rushed to hospital and had to stay for about 4 days while waiting for it to pass. My right hip has chronic arthritis in it now as well and my mobility is shot. I am not complaining though at all because I am here and I am damn lucky to be alive sharing my story with you. Some of the funny things I can look back at from this time is my sister said she came to see me right after they allowed people in my room and they had my legs propped up on a pillow and I asked her to move my front legs. She says she asked my how many legs did I have and I said "just move my f'n legs!" Also when I was in there was when Owen Hart fell to his death. I remember tuning into Raw and seeing the tribute but I was all loaded on morphine and what i heard and saw was a bunch of wrestlers coming out and saying how glad they were Owen was dead and he was an a-hole. So I called my mom on the phone, crying my eyes out, telling her how awful these wrestlers were. Anyhow, two things. Don't get behind the wheel after drinking please! It just is not worth it. Donate blood when you can and if you do I thank you with all my heart! You can save lives!
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