ONE STEP AT A TIME
Donation protected
Embracing my lengthy recovery after my car accident. Your support will help fund essential surgeries and living expenses. I am beyond grateful for every contribution towards this journey to reclaim my life. Thank you for being here!
Hello everyone! I am so blessed to be able to be here sharing my story with you guys today! I was in a car accident November of 2022. The day after Thanksgiving I was traveling back home after visiting family out of state. That night my car flew into and wrapped around a tree, and I have zero recollection of the entire incident. I broke both feet, knees, and femurs, as well as lost part of my right leg, broke my pelvis, 8 ribs, parts of my vertebrae, left arm, the entire structure of my face, orbital bone, nose, top & bottom jaw, & knocked out 10 teeth. I was minutes from death as I was bleeding out with a collapsed lung. It took about 45 minutes to free me due to being sandwiched between my floor and dash. Thanks to the fire department giving me blood at the scene, I had a chance to make it to the hospital. Had I been in a different city or had this taken place at a different time, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have been able to get the help I needed for a chance at survival. No one in the hospital understood how I even survived, let alone am able to make a recovery. A quite literal miracle. I woke up close to Christmas time after a medically induced coma for a few weeks. I was hospitalized for 5 months & am fighting to save my leg from amputation to this day. I went through 2 limb salvage surgeries by choice while hospitalized, and am on my 3rd attempt to save my leg now. So far I have undergone 86 procedures and have been under anesthesia 30 times. This has been the most miraculous and exhausting/ painful time simultaneously. It has absolutely been challenging in every aspect such as physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. But to have challenges means that I am alive, and I’d do it all 100x if it meant surviving, recovering, and saving my legs. The human body is amazing, it has healed over and over again from day 1. Since being out of the hospital, I have relocated to work with an amazing team that believes in my strength just as much as I do. They are an absolute dream team. I will soon be back into physical therapy 5 days a week to continue my journey to walking. I went from being bed ridden during my hospital stay.. wheel chair bound post discharge.. taking first steps on one leg.. to learning to walk with both legs (1 leg is in external fixators to bring my foot into a walking position, and my knee into full extension currently). Mind you my foot was stuck pointed down & my knees do not fully extent or bend. A lot of progress was made adjusting these devices daily over the past 7 months and they will be coming off soon! From not being able to talk, stand, or breathe on my own, being tube fed, to where I am today is a HUGE win for me. We have a lot more work to do surgically that is beyond what I can share here unless I write a mini novel. But for context, 1 of my knees will be getting replaced, as they just discovered when looking into my scans, that it cannot possibly be salvaged. As for the other, they will be looking inside with a scope (camera) to see what can be done. I have more to do on my foot (that is very compromised) face/ nose & teeth. I’m waiting to proceed with my face, mouth & teeth surgeries, as it is a crazy expensive bill that is necessary to pay upfront. I am working with trauma therapy, psychiatry, & pain management to manage everything to the best of my ability. I’ve pushed as hard as I can to regain strength through every process, no matter how bad it hurts, especially while walking on dislocated knees. I do live alone and use public transportation to get around to all of my appointments. I do my best to adapt in every circumstance dealt with resilience. And come a day soon, I will no doubt be up and walking without any assistance :) Your care to hear about my story is more than I could ever wish for. Thank you so so so much for being here today. I will never stop fighting! Accomplish everything that you think you can’t. There is NOTHING that you can’t get through, and that’s been proven time after time. I love you. Thank you for your time today. We will get there ONE STEP AT A TIME!! <3
I’ve added a few photos to help give somewhat of an idea as to what the past year and a half has looked like. The images don’t nearly do justice for the journey thus far, but it’s a good preview if you’re interested in seeing.
Trigger warning: ⚠️VERY GRAPHIC IMAGES⚠️
Hello everyone! I am so blessed to be able to be here sharing my story with you guys today! I was in a car accident November of 2022. The day after Thanksgiving I was traveling back home after visiting family out of state. That night my car flew into and wrapped around a tree, and I have zero recollection of the entire incident. I broke both feet, knees, and femurs, as well as lost part of my right leg, broke my pelvis, 8 ribs, parts of my vertebrae, left arm, the entire structure of my face, orbital bone, nose, top & bottom jaw, & knocked out 10 teeth. I was minutes from death as I was bleeding out with a collapsed lung. It took about 45 minutes to free me due to being sandwiched between my floor and dash. Thanks to the fire department giving me blood at the scene, I had a chance to make it to the hospital. Had I been in a different city or had this taken place at a different time, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have been able to get the help I needed for a chance at survival. No one in the hospital understood how I even survived, let alone am able to make a recovery. A quite literal miracle. I woke up close to Christmas time after a medically induced coma for a few weeks. I was hospitalized for 5 months & am fighting to save my leg from amputation to this day. I went through 2 limb salvage surgeries by choice while hospitalized, and am on my 3rd attempt to save my leg now. So far I have undergone 86 procedures and have been under anesthesia 30 times. This has been the most miraculous and exhausting/ painful time simultaneously. It has absolutely been challenging in every aspect such as physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. But to have challenges means that I am alive, and I’d do it all 100x if it meant surviving, recovering, and saving my legs. The human body is amazing, it has healed over and over again from day 1. Since being out of the hospital, I have relocated to work with an amazing team that believes in my strength just as much as I do. They are an absolute dream team. I will soon be back into physical therapy 5 days a week to continue my journey to walking. I went from being bed ridden during my hospital stay.. wheel chair bound post discharge.. taking first steps on one leg.. to learning to walk with both legs (1 leg is in external fixators to bring my foot into a walking position, and my knee into full extension currently). Mind you my foot was stuck pointed down & my knees do not fully extent or bend. A lot of progress was made adjusting these devices daily over the past 7 months and they will be coming off soon! From not being able to talk, stand, or breathe on my own, being tube fed, to where I am today is a HUGE win for me. We have a lot more work to do surgically that is beyond what I can share here unless I write a mini novel. But for context, 1 of my knees will be getting replaced, as they just discovered when looking into my scans, that it cannot possibly be salvaged. As for the other, they will be looking inside with a scope (camera) to see what can be done. I have more to do on my foot (that is very compromised) face/ nose & teeth. I’m waiting to proceed with my face, mouth & teeth surgeries, as it is a crazy expensive bill that is necessary to pay upfront. I am working with trauma therapy, psychiatry, & pain management to manage everything to the best of my ability. I’ve pushed as hard as I can to regain strength through every process, no matter how bad it hurts, especially while walking on dislocated knees. I do live alone and use public transportation to get around to all of my appointments. I do my best to adapt in every circumstance dealt with resilience. And come a day soon, I will no doubt be up and walking without any assistance :) Your care to hear about my story is more than I could ever wish for. Thank you so so so much for being here today. I will never stop fighting! Accomplish everything that you think you can’t. There is NOTHING that you can’t get through, and that’s been proven time after time. I love you. Thank you for your time today. We will get there ONE STEP AT A TIME!! <3
I’ve added a few photos to help give somewhat of an idea as to what the past year and a half has looked like. The images don’t nearly do justice for the journey thus far, but it’s a good preview if you’re interested in seeing.
Trigger warning: ⚠️VERY GRAPHIC IMAGES⚠️
Organizer
Aaliyah Murray
Organizer
West Palm Beach, FL