Dangerous driving changed my life forever.  On April 27th, 2012 I was 17 years old and full of amazing goals for the future. It was a sunny, Friday afternoon in Bolton, Ontario, when my friends and I decided to go to McDonalds for lunch. The thing is, other than our plan to go out for lunch, I don’t remember much of what happened. What I do remember is that this is the day that my life changed forever. I was unconscious and lost about 45 minutes of my memory, what I do remember was waking up in the dirt not knowing where I was or how I got there. Being put in the ambulance and asking the paramedics not to go anywhere until they brought James (my boyfriend) to me. This was the start of my whole world being turned upside down.

The Driver Ignored The Rules of the Road

I was a victim of a horrific motor vehicle accident. I was a passenger in a vehicle that, according to the police, was going 3x the posted speed limit. This was a single vehicle accident caused by dangerous driving, where the driver chose to ignore the rules of the road and didn’t stop when they were asked to. The driver wanted to create that “roller coaster” feeling in the pit of our stomachs. And just like that, it was too late. The driver had lost control of the vehicle, going up the embankment and taking out the fence, causing us to then flip end over end multiple times before coming to a stop about 300 metres into a farmer’s field.

Today, this accident has changed so much in my life. The impact coupled with the trauma of those events has caused me so much pain, emotionally, physically, and mentally. It’s something that I would never wish upon my worst enemy but this has also been my inspiration for writing about it and how I have been working through my daily challenges. I don’t want to have this happen to anyone else. This is my story of how dangerous driving changed my life forever.

The Changes To My Life Are Endless

In the accident I broke my neck at the C5 vertebrae. Many don’t know this, but the higher up your spinal injury is, the higher level of corresponding paralysation you will experience. Because of the site of my injury, I was 2mm away from becoming a quadriplegic, meaning I would be paralyzed from the neck down. But that wasn’t the end of my injuries. I experience soft tissue damage on the entire right side of my body, I have 3 slipped discs in my lumbar spine (my L4,L5,S1) and have nerve impingement on my right side. I now struggle with chronic pain as well as chronic headaches. But this was only the physical aspect of things. My mental and emotional state has been greatly impacted. I now suffer with short term memory loss, depression, severe passenger anxiety, and PTSD amongst other things, but the list of ways in which my life has now changed from that day could go on forever. I should never have been able to walk away from that crash but I did.

I was put in a halo to recover which, is a class two medical device designed to hold your neck in perfect alignment from your head to your waist. The experience was painful, and my appearance definitely caught people’s attention. It wasn’t easy hearing others talking about me, I knew I looked different. I wanted people to approach me, to ask questions, and I wanted to teach people about the halo I was wearing. What many people didn’t realize was that the halo saved me from a lifetime of surgeries and the possibility of becoming paralyzed.

Fighting Was My Only Option

My recovery has been far from easy and often times feels like it just happened yesterday. Dangerous driving changed my life forever.  I was told that I would forever have to live in pain and that I’d never get better. I view that as a challenge and have never given up since day one. The harsh reality of surviving an MVA is that it’s effects don’t just go away, it’s a lifelong process of learning to adjust to your new way of life, learning to love and accept yourself for who you’ve become. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t have such an incredible support system throughout my journey. This accident changed me but I’ve come out stronger than ever. It kills me to know that I’ve lost such an important piece of who I am such as my athletic personality, but that just pushes me to keep fighting. You don’t realize how strong you are until fighting is your only option.

It took me a very long time to recognize the good in my accident but I have challenged myself every day to find something positive. One of the things I told myself is that this accident happened to me for a reason. Dangerous driving changed my life forever.  I suffered the worst injuries because no one else would have been able to cope with it, I was meant to break my neck, I was meant to struggle and I was meant to use those hardships to prevent others from having to endure pain such as mine. I believe my purpose is to help educate others on dangerous driving by using my life story. And that is how I started public speaking. I don’t want anyone to have to go through the pain and trauma of an MVA.

Trauma Changes You

When it comes to resiliency I thank my social worker as she always challenged me to find a positive for every negative. I use to struggle to find the good but now it’s become a natural instinct for me. I go to the gym, practice yoga, utilize art therapy, and express myself through tattoos. All these things have helped me build my self-confidence, motivation, strength, and determination to never give up. Sometimes all you need is for someone to believe in you when you no longer believe in yourself.

Trauma changes you, it let me discover a passion I didn’t know I had and skills I didn’t know I was capable of possessing. If you asked me if I could go back in time to not get in that vehicle that day I’d say no. I would never change what happened to me. I would never change my chronic pain, the broken neck, the mental health struggles or anything else. This accident changed me and made me who I am today. I love who I’ve become. I now know never to take life for granted, always live everyday like it’s your last, I learned who my true friends were and keep those people close, I’m so empathetic and understanding of people no matter their circumstances and have learned to view things from a different perspective or point of view. These are such valuable life lessons that many of us do not have the opportunity to learn. I feel like I’ve become the best version of myself through my lived experiences and have no regrets.

Alana is currently in school to become a social worker and since her motor vehicle crash, she has become a public speaker for dangerous driving at local high schools.  Alana is also a member of our Crash Support Network Group and a passionate young woman that is a true inspiration. Alana recently became a spokesperson for the Crash Support Network in her local area and we are truly grateful for her support!

This story is also featured in our 2020 Spring Issue of Sharing our Recovery

Are you interested in sharing your story?  We want to hear from you!  Send us an email at: info@crashsupportnetwork.com and it may be published on our website or in our quarterly newsletter.

The Crash Support Network is a unique website consisting of an online support group, a Crash Survivor Blog written by a survivor, our Sharing Our Recovery Newsletter, informative articles and a Virtual Crash Memorial. Our website is based on relationship-building and puts the needs of survivors first by creating a helpful resource for victims and survivors of motor vehicle crashes.