“We were going into Houston for dinner with some good friends. Because we expected to have a drink or two, we asked our daughter to be our Uber driver. She was a college student. She was home. She needed the money. So we had her drop us off, and we were going to call her when we were ready to be picked up.

“After dinner, we took a different Uber to this new bar we wanted to check out. We drank some. We danced. And it was around 12:30 when our daughter came to get us. After dropping off our friends at their house in Crosby, we headed home.

“John was in the front passenger seat, and I was on the bench seat in back. I remember telling them that I was going to lie down, and that Whataburger sounded good. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital, and telling my mother, ‘I can’t feel my legs.’

“I learned that we had been hit by a woman in a Hummer. She was driving drunk and texting. Thank God that John and my daughter were OK. He said that I didn’t have my seat belt on. I could not believe that I had taken it off. Because if you know me, I was always the seat belt police.”

She ended up with her head resting on the floor board, and her feet over the back of the seat. Her arm was stuck between the edge of the seat and the door, which had caved in on her shoulder.

“I broke my sternum and the ribs around it. And my spinal cord was injured. I had two surgeries.

“I don’t recall when they told me that I was paralyzed. Maybe I just knew. I would try to move my legs, and nothing happened. I thought, ‘Am I ever going to walk again?’

“I was in the hospital 43 days. It was a roller coaster of emotions. One day I would be OK, and the next I would curse everybody. I didn’t want to go to therapy. I started having major anxiety attacks because I couldn’t move. I was getting claustrophobic. And I was just mad. Mad at the world. Mad at God. Mad at the lady who put me in a wheelchair.

Husband her biggest advocate

“When I found out that I was never going to walk again, I just cried. And I asked God, ‘Why? Why me?’ To be honest, I wanted to die. I hate saying that, because I was the lucky one. There are mothers who would give anything to have their child in a wheelchair, instead of having to bury them.

“But when I finally got home from the hospital, we were all scared. I’m paralyzed from the chest down. I have severe nerve pain that never goes away. How were we going to adapt to this new life? It was tough. Especially that first year, when I was in a hospital bed in what’s supposed to be our dining room.

“But I’ve gradually made progress. Every day I don’t go, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m never going to walk again.’ I continue telling my brain, ‘Pick up your leg and take a step. Now it’s the other leg’s turn.’ I still believe in miracles. I want to believe that I may eventually walk one day. If not, I’m finally adapting to life in a wheelchair.

“For the first 2 1/2 years after the wreck, though, I pretty much stayed home. I didn’t want to go anywhere. Then John began nudging me and said, ‘It’s time. You can’t stay inside all day. You’re going to wind up even more depressed.’ So we’d go to a restaurant. We went to the museum. My son played college football, so we traveled to his games.

“And I’m trying to be that cheerful person I used to be: saying hello, meeting new people. I do that at church, where I feel really comfortable. A little bit more of the old me is coming out. And I don’t feel as trapped inside my body.

“But I could not do this without the support of family and friends. My mother and sister-in-law take care of me during the day. When John gets off work, his other job is to come home and help me. He’s never wavered. We’ll be married 27 years in May. And I feel like our relationship is stronger than ever.

“That part of our marriage vows, in sickness and in health, really means a lot. When I got out of the Shock Trauma Intensive Care Unit, he held my hand and said, ‘We’re going to get through this. I’m here for you. I’ll be here for you forever, until the day I die.’

‘It doesn’t seem fair’

“It wasn’t until several weeks after the accident that they arrested the woman who hit us. The wreck happened in 2018. In 2019, she was finally sentenced to five years.

“We were there for the sentencing. Passing her in the hallway with her standing up and me in a wheelchair, I really wanted to lunge at her. I could feel the rage inside me. She looked at me and then looked away, like no big deal.

“In my impact statement, I said, ‘Look at me. Look what you’ve done to me. I’m not supposed to be in this chair. Because of your actions, I can no longer be a nurse. I can no longer sit and work an eight-hour day.’ I also said, ‘What you did to me, you can do to your own family. You could kill your husband, your children, your grandchild, your mother. Then how are you going to feel?’ I said, ‘If I can save one person by putting you away, then I’m good with that.’ But still, no remorse. She couldn’t even look at me and just say, ‘I’m sorry.’ She never took responsibility for driving drunk.

“She’s up for parole in May. And I’ve been asking family and friends if they’d be willing to write a protest letter to the parole board on my behalf. I mean, she’s only served 2 1/2 years of her five-year sentence, while I have to serve a life sentence with my injuries in a wheelchair. It makes my blood boil.

“I hope she’s learned something from the whole experience. But from what we’ve seen online, her family is just ready for her to get out so they can have a big party. It doesn’t seem fair at all.”

— Patti Pequeno Farris

The post Drunk driver forever changes her life appeared first on The Baytown Project.

(1 of 3) “It was a Sunday morning seven years ago. We were getting ready for church. We began going about three weeks earlier. We had both been sober for those three weeks. In fact, Pedro had just gotten baptized. We were on the right track, we thought.

“He was set to begin a new job the next day. He needed to get a part for his car, so he decided to get a ride to the store before church. Our kids, Mia and Pete, were in third and fourth grades. When we came home from church, there was no sign of Pedro. No calls. No texts. I knew something was terribly wrong.

“We drove around and looked for him. The kids made ‘Have You Seen My Daddy?’ signs, and posted them on trees. It was heartbreaking. They went to school on Monday. I told them, ‘If I find your daddy, I will come get you.’

“I was calling hospitals, police stations, everywhere. We couldn’t find him. He didn’t bring his wallet or phone with him. Finally, with a little help and the right information, we found him. He was admitted as John Doe to the Shock Trauma Intensive Care Unit at Memorial Hermann Hospital. He was in a coma. It was the heaviest news I’ve ever received. My knees buckled. I called my mom. I remember telling her I was so relieved he’d been baptized. I thought it was over.

“When I went to get the kids, they immediately knew it was bad. Pedro was the passenger in a single vehicle rollover accident. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt. He went through the windshield and sustained several life-threatening injuries.

“He spent three months in two hospitals. There was no brain damage. He regained more ability than was originally predicted. He grew stronger. He has issues, for sure: pain, lack of mobility, spasms and more. But something miraculous happened. Pedro was saved. His life was spared. He was given the most amazing second chance. What was intended for heartbreak, death and hopelessness was traded for love, beauty, life and confidence.

“Not a single day goes by that we aren’t grateful. I will never have enough words to explain how blessed we are.”

— Kimberly Infante

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The post ‘I knew something was terribly wrong’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I haven’t worked since 2008, and I’m now permanently disabled. I’ve had 15 car accidents since I started driving as a teenager. The one that messed up my neck happened in Louisiana in 2001. I thought I was going to die, it hurt so bad.

“I’ve had two surgeries on my back, and I’ve been getting injections for 12 years. They put a numbing agent on the nerve to calm it down, and they put cortisone in there for the inflammation. It’s to the point where those aren’t lasting very long.

“A year ago in December, while trying to grab one of my little cats from the attic out in the garage, I fell 8 feet from a ladder onto the concrete floor. I broke my foot, messed up my elbow, and messed up my back really good.

“I hurt so bad in the mornings now, it takes hours for me to be able to sit and relax for a little bit, and then walk it out and stretch it out. A lot of times, with the pain medication, I’m sleepy and drowsy. All the chronic pain has caused fibromyalgia. So there are days where it alone will just creep in, and I’m done, where I can’t function mentally or physically.

“With a chronic condition like this, it’s not just the pain you deal with. Eventually, it starts to mess with your organs. I’ve been having kidney problems, and I need to go see a kidney specialist.

“As life goes on, I’m kind of deteriorating a little bit at a time. I used to get real mad about it all. Now I just accept it. I’m functioning. There are enough good days that I can still enjoy life. When I’m having a good day, I just see how long it lasts and accept what comes next. Otherwise, it’s like giving up and admitting defeat.

“It’s challenging, but I try to not let it consume me. You’ve got to break out of that shell and step back into the world, and try to push that pain back. If not, how are you going to experience and enjoy life?”

— Stella Furst

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The post ‘There are enough good days, I can still enjoy life’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I was driving to Columbus, Texas. I was going up there to work. Back then I was drinking, and I ran my truck head on into a tree. It was at night, and I had gone to sleep. I’m pretty sure that drinking had a whole lot to do with it.

“When the law finally arrived, they took me to the hospital. My bottom lip was hanging there. I guess it hit the steering wheel. After they sewed it back together, they took me to the jailhouse.

“There was a woman deputy on duty, and she said, ‘I’m the only person with you tonight. There’s nobody else on this floor but you.’ She said, ‘If you need anything, just holler.’ I didn’t say a word. When she locked those doors, I was holding onto the bars.

“Then I heard an audible voice, just like I’m talking now. It said that if I didn’t quit doing what I was doing, I wouldn’t get another chance. I heard that just as plain as day. I’m thinking maybe I was hallucinating at the time from all the alcohol.

“Anyway, I laid down and went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I had sobered up a little bit. And those exact words came back to me again, just like I heard the night before. So I fell on my knees and said, ‘Lord, I need help.’

“I kept trying to reason and make out why I heard those words. In the end, I have to believe that was the lord talking to me. All I know is that I don’t mess with the stuff anymore. That’s when I quit drinking. I left it alone after that night.”

— Glen Henson

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The post He makes the most of second chance at life appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I was an uh-oh baby. My parents were very young, 17. So my grandpa told my dad, ‘You’re not taking my girls until you get an education.’ My mom and I lived with my grandparents for a few years. When my dad finished school and became a welder, they got married and we all moved in together.

“About a year later on a Friday night, my dad finished work and went out with some friends. In the middle of the night, they called us to say that he was in a really bad wreck. We went to Hermann Hospital, where we learned that he had broken his neck. My dad is paralyzed from the chest down.

“With my mom juggling nursing school, work, a 5-year-old and a paralyzed husband, she had her hands full. She ended up quitting school and going to work in a doctor’s office. Before I knew it, it seemed like I was 5 going on 15. I had to grow up quickly. I started cleaning and washing, and helping make sure that my dad was good.

“Eventually, he went back to school to learn how to do tech stuff, like repairing computers. And I was my dad’s hands. He would tell me what to do, and I would do it. I just followed his directions and put the computers together. He also used to have me tear apart his wheelchairs and put them back together. He wanted them clean.

“My dad still has doctor’s appointments. But he’s doing well. We thank God that he’s alive, still kicking and going strong. It just shows that you never know what life may bring. You need to be thankful for every day.”

— Roxann Ramirez

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The post After car accident, ‘I was my dad’s hands’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I got the call from my aunt at 4 o’clock in the morning. My brother and his fiancé were in Galveston for Valentine’s Day. They were going to this place near the sea wall called the chill zone when they wrecked. He died instantly and she got rushed to the hospital, but she passed away there. It really sucks.”

How have you been dealing with it?
“You’ve got to stay strong for family, definitely for my mom and my sister. Hanging on to good memories helps.

“At first me and my brother weren’t that close, but we became really close after he turned 16 and I was 18. We would come out here to the park and I would watch him skateboard. He also liked to look at the turtles. We would just hang out. This was our chill zone right here.

“It’s hard but, you know, God picks them. You can’t do anything about it.”

— Kodi Reed

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The post He tries to stay strong following brother’s death appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I was doing my EMT clinical training with the City of Baytown, and we were at the ambulance center. It was a calm Sunday when we got a call about a rollover accident. It was a possible fatality. When we arrived at the scene, we saw that the body had been ejected about 40 feet from the vehicle. There were a lot of people gathered, and I noticed my brother-in-law and several others I recognized since I was raised in the city. It turned out that the victim was my sister.

“She had a fractured knee, she broke her back and she had a pretty bad skull fracture. I told my paramedic, ‘That’s my sister.’ He’s like, ‘I don’t think she’s going to make it. They called Life Flight, and they’re on the way.’ We met them at Hermann Hospital, and they let me be in the surgery room with her.

“Thanks to God, she survived. As she was recovering, I acted as her nurse. She tells me to this day, ‘You were my angel that day. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t think I would have lived. I knew you were there, so I knew you were going to take care of me.’

“This was in 1999. I was a student at the time. But after that, with all the tragedies I had seen, I decided I did not want to become a doctor. So I became an engineer instead. But I still teach CPR, first aid and AED (automated external defibrillator) on the side. I guess I still have it in me. I love to help people. I feel like if I can help at least one person, then it makes me a better person.”

The post ‘Angel’ helps her sister recover from accident appeared first on The Baytown Project.