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Stephanie's
Story........ |
| My story isn't to different from others. I was
the victim of a Ford Explorer rollover in 1998. Me, my husband (now X), and our two children had been school clothes shopping. It was a terribly rainy day and yes we had our seat belts on... UNTIL ... we saw a young girl that had obviously spun out in the median, she looked hurt so we stopped to assist her. We unbuckled and helped get her calmed down and back on the road. Once we got going it hit us that we should have invited her to come to our house to calm down and put on dry clothes. We only lived about 6 miles away. Naturally the cell phone was in the other vehicle that day so we were going faster than we should to get home and call her. In all the commotion and adrenaline pumping we totally forgot to put our seatbelts back on. We went a few more miles then hit a huge lake of water in the road. Immediately we hydroplaned. At first I thought... OK.. we'll just skid out of it, regain traction and keep on going. That didn't happen. As the road curved we went off the pavement, immediately we began a drivers side roll ejecting myself and my son. I flew about 100 feet and hit the ground hard. I can remember flying through the air actually thinking..."we've wrecked and I've been ejected." Then I seen fence poles and pine trees coming fast. I just thought "Oh God, this is going to hurt !! ." And hurt it did. I guess it was the landing that broke my back at T12 and crushed at L1. As I tried to reach my children I realized I wasn't moving, So... I reached down touched my left leg and thought.. "OK.. I can't feel it," so I reached for my right ... and I couldn't feel it either. I knew immediately I was paralyzed, either it is temporary or permanent. Everyone else was not seriously injured thank goodness. The twist to my story is this.... I had been raised around paralysis. In 1979, when I was 12 my mother was in a plane crash that paralyzed her at T12 - L1... imagine that?? She was 32 at that time, and I was 32 when I wrecked. I was 12 when she was injured, my daughter was 12 when I was injured. The list goes on of similarities ... it just gets to wild and scary. So now you have a mother and daughter, both paralyzed at the same age, same level. Its almost like history repeats itself. That's my story in brief form ... pretty unique huh? Anyway, I'm happy to share my story with you so if you have questions feel free to email me. Sincerely, Stephanie McCoy
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