On May 6th, 2011 , I was working two jobs at the time. One was 3pm -11pm working at a highly rated 4 star resort called Rocky Gap Hotel and Golf Resort ( now it's Rocky Gap Hotel, Casino, and Golf Resort), and the other one was actually two different newspaper routes that I did from 1am - 6am. It contained a total of 225 papers. From the time I got home from the hotel until the time that I left for the papers I didn't get to rest because I was preparing the newspapers for delivery.
This was indeed wearing me down with the lack of rest I was getting at the time. For over a month straight, I consistently caught myself falling asleep at the wheel on the way home from the hotel or on my way to get the papers. Several times I had near misses with tractor trailers and such.
On that fateful day, around 6 am, I was in my 2000 dodge neon and I fell asleep at the wheel once again and woke up to a solid impact followed by several spins and then another really solid impact. I had clipped another vehicle (bronco) head on and caused his vehicle to roll over and it sent me into a 360 and finally ending up cemented into the guardrail. Thankfully, the other driver walked out on his own power. I was trapped inside my vehicle and it was in the guardrail so much that the front drivers side axle and steering column, basically the entire front clip was pushed back into my body. They had to use the jaws of life to release the pressure of the front clip from my legs and cut the roof off to get me out. I knew that my left arm and left leg was broken. It felt like the bone was sticking through the skin. They also noticed that my stomach was rock solid, meaning I had internal bleeding. They put me into the helicopter and got me to the hospital where I spent the next 26 days.
I had to basically learn how to walk again. I had to have two plates and six screws placed in my left forearm, 2 screws near my left knee that held that end of the rod in and another screw up at the top of my thigh to hold that end of the rod to my femur. I had broke my femur in 3 places and it also had a splintered fracture on the inside thigh. I also had to have a coil or spring of some sort placed inside my spleen.
Ever since that day, my life had changed so much. Now I am so very cautious of my driving as well as others. I always think about the worst case scenario of an accident that doesn't kill me but leaves me in unspeakable conditions. It has definitely affected me mentally in that aspect.
I have recovered greatly, but I still experience problems from this incident from time to time.