Every morning when I wake up, my first thoughts are of thankfulness. I thank the Lord for each breath of life, and I say, “this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). And another quote I say each day is “great things are going to happen today”. After this moment of gratitude, I check my phone because at 4 am one of my sons who is a deputy out on patrol, is about to end his work night. I pray for his safety before bed and once I get up.
Today as I have my moment of gratitude I am especially thankful for each breath I take and each of my family members. One year ago today, February 9th, 2018 around 3:20 pm on a Friday afternoon, I was laying on the ground after getting hit by a car while cycling towards the bike path off Jamboree headed back to my car. I was as prepared as I could be – my bike light was flashing, I looked before crossing the road, and I had my Garmin running but with all of that preparedness, the woman was a distracted driver. She was paying attention to her phone and did not see me. She hit me as I was standing and clipped in at the turn when she hit me square in the lower back. I went under the car, rolled over and over, and laid there going into shock and cried as I thought, “I will never see my children and my little grandchildren again”. The emotion and physical pain made me cry out to God, “please let me live that I may pray for my children and grandchildren”. Something I longed for as a young adult. I had no one praying for me and I needed it so desperately. I believe in becoming that which you desire so that has been my life goal for 20 plus years.
Two amazing women stopped to help me. One held my feet and the other my head. I kept saying, “someone call my son.” I forgot one phone number but remembered Taylor’s so they called him for me. I was hit right on Fort and Jamboree by an OC fire station. That was a huge blessing. The first miracle was that I wasn’t hit a second time because I was flung into the middle of the street and this was during school pick up hours in a little bit of a blind area because of construction that was being done on Jamboree.
My children were all over the US at the time. One son and his beautiful wife were told to come home from their anniversary trip in NYC because they weren’t sure I was going to make it. My right side was covered in road rash, the left side completely swollen. They took me in and did several exams, CT scans, and my Garmin was totaled. Interestingly, I dual record my rides, so my iPhone recorded the accident as well. My cycling shoes were missing their tops and so were my water bottles because of the scrapping across the ground.
The doctor came in that next morning and said I was so lucky to be alive. My Kask helmet saved my head for sure. It was damaged on top, front and back. That is how many times I was hit on my head. I had no concussion. But he also said that it looked as if I had cancer, multiple myeloma in front of my children. At first I was in shock, second, I just refused to think about it. I said ok, and knew in my mind, if the Lord allowed me to live and survive this accident, whether or not I had cancer that was minor. Once the children left, I cried. I remember clearly saying, “Lord, if this is the path I must continue on, then You will give me strength.” My husband passed from cancer three years earlier. I did not do any research or look anything up but I did pray.
The fire captain said it was a miracle I survived let alone no broken bones. The Orange PD told Sky, one of my son’s, and myself when I picked up my bike that in 25 years of bike accidents there have only been two survivors of what I went through and I am the second. The OC police records woman said, “You were very lucky.” I could barely walk but I was alive and this picture shows you just how blessed I am to be typing this out.
I was in a lot of of pain but by God’s grace I’m alive. She (the driver) was going pretty fast and I was clipped in, I should have broken both legs or be paralyzed. But God in His mercy had other plans. I survived, got a clean bill of health three weeks later, no cancer and was able to start retraining on a spin bike to rebuild my fitness. It took three and a half months of physical therapy to overcome but still my biggest problem is my lower back. I refuse to think it will last much longer but I ran into a few more problems once I got back on the bike.
On top of all of the physical injuries, there were emotional ones no one knew about. I had a lot of ptsd problems as a result of this accident. My cycling friends and some of my children were great encouragers, I can’t even tell you how thankful I am for my cycling friends.
I wanted to retrain on my own, called my CTS coach and she helped me make small steps to getting back on the bike. I was shaking the first time I got on but I wanted my children and grandchildren to know how to push forward so I did not want my fear to control me. That first day, I met a man out on his bike who was missing a leg. I rode with him a little and thanked him for telling me his story while we rode. I continued to ride, then my girlfriends rode with me my first group ride and helped me every step of the way. At this point, they knew my goal was to make an engagement ride which I did. I was last in the group but did not care. I was there.
I continued to train and rode in the Amtrak 100. I felt a lot of pain on that ride but I made it! I did another 65 mile ride and had a lot of physical problems as a result so I am actually taking a break from cycling for now.
I see myself as a cycling accident victor not victim. I could have been that woman and am happy about each breath I take every single day.
