Surviving Getting Ejected From Car Accident

Unfiltered Stories

In today's episode of Unfiltered Stories, we are talking with Kennedy about how she survived an utterly horrific car accident. Kennedy was just spending a normal evening with her friends when her whole life changed. She was driving when they had a terrible car accident causing her to lose a limb...   #trauma #caraccident #survivor #survivalstory #mentalhealth   Thank you for watching Unfiltered Stories! We offer a platform for our guests to speak openly about their life stories and journeys, shedding light on the challenges they faced and the resilience they've shown.   Our mission is to raise awareness about survivors by delving into their stories, exploring the impact of their experiences, and how they've managed to heal and rebuild their lives.  By sharing these stories, we aim to break the silence surrounding those challenging memories and create a compassionate environment.   🌅 FOLLOW US 🌅  Facebook ➮ https://tinyurl.com/UnfilteredFB  Tiktok ➮ https://tinyurl.com/UnfilteredTT  Snapchat ➮ https://tinyurl.com/UnfilteredSN

Transcript

00:00So here I have the picture and if you can tell, obviously my arm is hanging down. This is my

00:04left

00:04arm that got partially ripped off. This is my knee and then this part where it's bent is where

00:09my femur was busted in half and this is my right leg and my right arm. Hi, my name is

00:15Kennedy and

00:16I survived a car accident. So my junior year is when the car accident happened and two days prior

00:22to the car accident, me and my boyfriend had broken up at the time. So it was kind of an

00:27emotional mess. And so my two friends, they came over and they wanted to cheer me up. So they were

00:35like, let's go watch the sunset at the D. And we have a big mountain that's three or four miles

00:40down

00:40the road. And you just go to the base of it and you can see the best sunsets. And then

00:44from there,

00:46Jacob's mom calls and she's like, Jacob, you need to be home by nine. And we were like, what the

00:51heck?

00:52Okay. So we start heading back to my house because Jacob's car was at my house. And so on the

00:57way

00:57from the base of the D to my house, it's a straight shot road. Like there's just like

01:02three stop signs. I think the roads back here are really narrow. And if you start to go off the

01:08road,

01:08you kind of slip deep, kind of pulls you in because like, there's just no barrier or anything.

01:15And so I was driving and I started crying again. I remember it was obviously because I got broken up

01:21with or whatever. And I started going off the left side of the road and I over corrected and I

01:26started

01:26going off the right side of the road because I over corrected too far. There was a little bump

01:31in the dirt on the side of the road. And so my car kind of caught air and the left

01:36side of my car

01:36took out the right chunk of the power pole and it flipped us sideways. And we started flipping and

01:42rolling over and over and over. But the pole that we hit ended up staying standing. And that's kind of

01:47important because I hit this pole. And then the next pole, I was hanging in between those poles. So if

01:54the

01:54one pole fell, I would have fell to the ground too. And the car rolled past the second pole.

02:00It was like 50 feet out this way. And I got ejected into the power line and I was hanging

02:05by my broken

02:06femur for almost an hour. They think I got catapulted all the way up there because of the

02:11momentum of the car, because I was going to speed them. I was going 58 miles an hour. It was

02:16just

02:17as you're flipping and rolling, you gain more. And so that's just what happened, I guess.

02:23I remember being super high in the air, upside down, and it was really dark. And I remember feeling

02:29really alone. And I was just confused on where I was, what was happening. But then I remember like

02:35blood running down my face and like almost drowning me in a way. And so I was scared. And then

02:41I remember

02:42everyone was underneath me. I was just really confused on why no one was helping me. Like they

02:47were just all looking at me like, are you guys going to help me? And they were like, yeah, we're

02:52coming. We got it. We're waiting for a truck. And so I was like, okay, whatever. Like still not really

02:58knowing what's happening. And then it kind of flicks up to where he's in my face, putting the

03:03tourniquet on me. And I remember looking at him. And at this point, we're like hitting an hour and I'm

03:08lost so much blood. I'm tired. I'm tired of fighting. I can't do it anymore. And he's putting

03:14the tourniquet on me and he's like stressed out because he's got to figure out how to get me off

03:18this wire. And I remember looking at him and I said, you've got to get me down. And he said,

03:21I know we're trying, like we're so close. Just hang on. And I said, no, I'm serious. I can't hold

03:26on much longer, even though I had no choice. And he got me down. And I remember just looking at

03:31all of

03:32him like, thank you so much for help trying to save my life. But like, I think this is my

03:37time to go.

03:38And so I kind of had given up at that point because I was fighting for so long. Like I

03:43had

03:43nothing in me anymore. And then I remember getting put in the ambulance and just laying there. And I

03:49was kind of like relaxed at that point because I just knew it was my time to go. Obviously it

03:55wasn't,

03:55but that's how I felt. So my two friends, obviously none of us had our seatbelts on, so we all

04:00got

04:00ejected out. And she was the next one out and she broke her neck, her back and her pelvis. So

04:06I broke

04:07quite a few of her bones. And then Jacob, he was in the back seat and he was the last

04:12one out. And I

04:13broke his neck and his pelvis. So all my injuries, I had a broken collarbone, a broken humerus. I broke

04:22my femur, but that's where they amputated it. And then I also had a, so I have a brachial plexus

04:28injury. And not when I say that, a lot of people don't really understand what it is, which I wouldn't

04:32either. But so you have five main nerves that run your arm. And so five of mine were all injured,

04:38but three were pulled out from this root of my spine and two were stretched really far. And so

04:43that left me with my arm pretty much paralyzed. And for the longest time, all I could do is barely

04:49move my fingers. I'm still really affected by it today because my arm still doesn't work like it's

04:54supposed to. I think I went under eight surgeries in the span of like 12 hours. And I just remember

04:59waking up and it was like, I was in a ton of pain. I didn't know my injuries because no

05:03one like wanted

05:04to break it to me that I had to lose a leg, but I knew something was severely wrong. I

05:10was in a coma

05:11for a few days. I don't really know exactly how long, like a medically induced coma. I remember waking

05:16up and they gave me a few days before I think they told me. It all is kind of like

05:20a blur now because

05:22it's been a year, but I was still in pretty bad shape. If my dad came in and I could

05:27just tell the

05:29limb was like very gloomy and like there was something seriously wrong. And my dad sat next

05:34to me and he said, Kennedy, they had to take your leg. And I said, oh, did Jacob or Nakaya

05:39lose a

05:39limb? Because obviously I'm still on a lot of medication. Doesn't mean just because I lost

05:43limb, everyone lost a limb, but I was just worried that like they didn't have to sustain any like

05:48long-term injuries. And he said, no, they didn't. And I said, so I'm the only one. He goes, yeah.

05:53And I said, well, I'm glad I'm the one that had to lose a limb because it was my fault.

05:56And so then I kind of turned my head away because I wanted to kind of be alone because in

06:03that moment

06:03to hear that as a 16 year old girl, that your whole life is going to be different is

06:07something that's super hard to hear. And so I was okay with it, even though at the same time in

06:13the

06:13back of my head, I was like, I think it's still there because I can feel it. Cause like, I

06:17was like,

06:18you'd think the pain is all gone. It wasn't gone. And so like at that point I was really delusional

06:22and I could still like see my leg. I described all the scars, like the scratches, what my toes

06:28looked like. It was insane. Like, obviously I knew it wasn't really there in my mind. I could still

06:33see it leaving the hospital. I was so excited because I was there for seven weeks. It was so

06:38long, but when I left, it was difficult because in the hospital, they kind of, it teach you to do

06:44things on your own, but at the same time you have so much help. And even though when I came

06:48home,

06:48like I had a lot of help, but I remember sometimes I'd sit there and I would be like,

06:52I can't do this. This is hard. I'm not going to be able to do these things anymore. I remember

06:56watching the neighbor kids run around together and that like broke my heart. Cause I was like,

07:01I'm never going to be able to do that again. And like, I think that was my first mental breakdown

07:05out of the whole thing, but I just realized how hard life was going to be from there on.

07:10My family handled everything pretty well. I think the reason they handled everything pretty well

07:15is because I handled it pretty well. And I still to this day, don't know why I handled it so

07:19well

07:20that I did. Going into my senior year, I had all summer to recover. It was so scary. And I

07:25was so

07:25scared because I was in a wheelchair because I can't be on crutches because of my left arm.

07:31All these years, I never thought I'd be going in my senior year in a wheelchair,

07:34looking the way I did. And so it was really hard on my self-esteem, but everyone at school was

07:39really

07:39good. And then it was also hard to watch my team play soccer without me. So it was just,

07:44life was hard. And then once I got my prosthetic leg, I went to all the activities I still did

07:50in

07:50my wheelchair. It was just different. I went to prom, I had fun. I just made the best out of

07:56it

07:56with what I could and had fun with it. So life now, I graduated high school a few months ago,

08:02and now I'm moving out to go to college. My one goal that I want to do so bad is

08:09go to the Paralympics.

08:10I don't know what I would go for. I think in running because I'm actually working on a

08:15running blade right now. I get casted for it tomorrow. I'd also like to do skiing in the

08:19Paralympics maybe. I haven't really decided on that one. That's one of my goals. And then

08:25I want to get a degree in business just in case. And then I'd like to continue social media because

08:30I've had fun doing it. I think it's important to share my story on social media because most of the

08:35time someone needs someone to give them motivation or inspiration. And I know I have those people for

08:40me that I'm like, oh, look, they can do it. I can do it. And I want to be that

08:44person for someone.

08:45And being that person has been awesome. And like, I just, I like finding humor in it. And people seem

08:52to absolutely love it. And if it like brightens up their day for my trauma, whatever, like have at it.

08:59I think I'm, I think it's funny. You can think it's funny too. I think the reason I stay so

09:04positive is because before my accident, I was severely depressed. I wasn't planning on going

09:08into my senior year because I was not planning to live because I didn't want to anymore. And I kind

09:16of gave up on everything. And so going through something like that and seeing how fast life can

09:20change and like how life is actually so worth living for made me just see the positives and be like,

09:26I think I was a little lost back then. And now I don't think I'm lost anymore. My name is

09:30Kennedy.

09:31Thanks for listening to my story. And I hope I can motivate you some way.

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended