She was walking home from Middle School with her best friend.  It was a late September afternoon; her birthday was a few days away. It was still warm enough that she didn’t even need a jacket yet. She still got teased for being such a tom-boy. She hadn’t stopped climbing trees and liked to play sports with her buddies. 

There wasn’t too much wrong with her life at age 14. She and her friend walked close together on the sidewalk kicking leaves and laughing talking about boys in their school.

She remembers her friend turning to look behind them. She remembers noise, loud and close. Then there was a sensation of being pushed-pushed by something heavy. Then her world was blinded by heaviness and pain. Her first single scream had people  running to see what had happened.

She was screaming in pain on the sidewalk and couldn’t move. She looked at her leg and  saw only meat and blood. Her screams continued. She wasn’t sure when she stopped screaming. Maybe it was later in the hospital after she was sedated. The paramedics took care of her and kept her alive and safe until she could be transported to Primary Medical Center. She remembers the sound of the helicopter, knowing it would took her to safety and away from this place where she had lost a limb. There was no way to save her left leg. There was no leg to save. 

I first met her early on when she was at physical rehab, learning to use the prosthetic. It was tough watching her struggle for balance, struggling to use the treadmill. Her left hip trying to do all the work to compensate for a leg that wasn’t there. 

She has made a brave recovery. We have watched her go through all the stages that physical therapists see when people lose limbs and have to start over.

The carelessness of a commercial trucking company took away so much. We are working to get her a fair settlement that will help her for the rest of her life.