I was a passenger on Amtrak 188 on May 12, 2015, the day a train derailed in a massive accident outside Philadelphia that killed eight passengers and injured more than 150. I was less likely to survive. I was thrown from the train at such a speed that my abdominal organs went up into my chest, my diaphragm ruptured. Almost all the ribs on my left side were crushed, my pelvis was half broken and multiple vertebrae in my neck and back were broken.
An object entered my left buttock, crushed my hip bone and the wound was open and dirty. My spleen is damaged, my intestines are badly ruptured, my bladder is ruptured, and my lungs are broken. Later, my orthopedic surgeon said that if someone told him about the patient who came to the ER with my injuries, his next question would be, “When did they die?”
The energy that my body must have absorbed to create these injuries, the doctors were shocked that I was not paralyzed and did not sustain even a major brain injury. Almost every system in my body was severely affected, but over the next few years, I recovered. I recovered, but I will never be the same. My body is different, and I am different. Physically and mentally, I have wounds that will not go away. But I’m fine.