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ALL THESE PEOPLE AND THEIR JOINED EFFORT MADE ME WORK TWICE AS HARD SO THEIR HARD WORK ELAINA
by TBI Times
During the summer of 2020, on a drive to a friend’s home, Elaina’s life changed forever. Her intention was to drive to the beach and enjoy a relaxing day with friends. Unfortunately, Elaina collided with another vehicle on the expressway and was seriously injured in the crash.
“All I remember was waking up in the car and everything was in a very slow motion, in absolute quiet,” says Elaina. “I had no sense of smell or touch, just nothingness. Then the adrenaline kicked in and I had to drag myself out of the car because I could smell smoke, still not knowing what had happened and where I was. The only thing I knew was that I did not want to burn.”
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She was taken to the hospital. “I remember being scared and I was in so much pain and dazed from the shock of it all. There were lots of doctors, nurses, beeping noises, tubes, many questions thrown all in my direction, thousands of voices that didn’t make sense,” she says.
Finding The Courage To Get Back Behind The Wheel
Elaina had suffered multiple injuries including a traumatic brain injury. She spent months in the hospital.
“It was a hard two months. All my dignity was gone. I became totally dependent on everyone around me. I had to learn to trust strangers very quickly. Their judgements, statements and advice — it wasn’t always easy,” she says. “But, on the other hand, I also had an amazing support from the wonderful therapy team, who helped with my rehab. The clinical nurse specialist, who was the right hand of my surgeon, always put a smile on my face. There was also the porter and the kitchen and cleaning staff who all had an enormous enthusiasm for life. Meeting other patients and hearing their stories also helped and made me appreciate how lucky I was and that it could be worse, which became my daily mantra. All these people and their joined effort made me work twice as hard so their hard work wouldn’t be wasted.” Elaina is finally back on her feet and finding the courage to get back behind the wheel.
