I broke my neck in an auto accident in Lakeland, FL on the night before my 21st birthday. It happened just after I dropped off a friend at home following a night at the mall. It was my first time driving to her home and I was unaware that there was a dangerous intersection at the end of her street with no stop signs. When I approached the intersection, the oncoming traffic and roadway were not visible to me. It was dark, the road was inclined, and the vegetation was overgrown. I unknowingly drove into
The last thing I remembered about that night was putting my car in reverse and backing out of my friend’s driveway. The next thing I remembered was waking up days later in a hospital, moving in and out of a drug-induced coma.
The hospital they transported me to did not immediately check for spinal injuries and did not take precautions as they moved me from bed to bed and pulled my sweater over my head. Once they finally took x-rays and saw my neck was broken, they decided to drug me up until they could send me to a hospital with a spinal unit. They put me on opium and that’s how I stayed for weeks, oblivious to what happened to me.