From the Archives: 2009

Written by Tiffany Jones

I thought I was gone – dead.  I was headed home on the evening of January 5, 2008, when my boyfriend, who was driving my car, lost control and began to fishtail.  We crashed and I was thrown 30 feet from the vehicle.  I felt my neck break.  That’s when I thought I was dead.  I remember not being able to feel my body.   I remained conscious for a few moments before blacking out.    

When I woke up, my dad was there.  He had heard about the accident on the scanner and was the first one to arrive.  He even arrived before the first responders.  I was transported to Ashe Memorial Hospital and was then taken by helicopter to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.  For 4 days I was in traction with screws in my head to keep me from moving my neck.  The doctors told me I would be paralyzed for life, never being able to move anything from my neck down.  That was a diagnosis I couldn’t accept.

After I got out of traction, while I was still in the hospital in Charlotte, I had a dream.  In my dream, I felt as if I was floating above my bed.  There was a flash of light and then I saw the figure of a person.  As the figure got closer I realized that it was Jesus.  He wrapped his arms around me and told me that everything was going to be okay.  When I woke up I just cried but almost immediately - within five minutes – I began to get some feeling back in my arms and legs.

 I spent 2 weeks at Carolinas Medical Center before being transported to the Shepherd Center, a rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, specializing in spinal cord injury.  At the Shepherd Center, I spent 4 months in intensive therapy and I had several experiences of being visited by angels.  These visits reinforced my confidence in Jesus’ words to me in my dream that everything was going to be okay. 

 I’ve been home for over a year now.  I go to therapy in Lincoln County twice a week, I have regular exercises I do at home, and just as Jesus promised, I continue to improve.  The bone in my spine has grown back where it was crushed and it has been determined that my spinal cord was not actually severed but was compressed, instead.  Now the doctors believe, with me, that someday I will walk again.

 Since I grew up going to church every Sunday and Wednesday, my faith has always been strong and has been a very important part of my recovery.  Before the accident, I was in my freshman year at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee, where I was playing softball on an academic and athletic scholarship.  Obviously, the accident completely changed my life. While some might become angry or bitter or even lose faith, my faith is 50 times stronger than it was before.  Not that I don’t have moments when I am in a bad mood or have feelings of anger or bitterness, but I choose to focus on the positive.  I am alive. 

 I am much more appreciative of my family now and value the time I get to spend with family members.  Someone asked me if I ever get angry at God but I could never do that.  I know God didn’t plan for this to happen to me.  God never wants his children to go through suffering.  He knew that my accident would happen, though, and he prepared me for it.  For instance, the athletic conditioning I received playing college softball strengthened me for the physical challenges I would face. 

The way I see it, God has given me a second chance at life and that is something for which I am very thankful.