After practice, I ate dinner, kissed my mother goodbye and drove to a friend's house. He borrowed his parents' mini-van, we stopped to fill the tank up, I put the seatbelt in my hand.

The next thing I remember was lying in a hospital bed five days later. I had a respirator down my throat. Luckily, my mother was next to me - this is the story she told:

"After leaving the gas station on Monday, February 13, 1995, we crossed an intersection that we had driven through hundreds of times, but this time we were broad-sided. I was unrestrained and was ejected out the window as the van spun. My final landing spot was 40 feet away from the van. I was rushed to the trauma center in Hollywood, Florida, where I was diagnosed with fractured ribs, a collapsed left lung, and a severe left frontal epidural hematoma due to a skull fracture. The first days were traumatic for my family. Was I going to live? If so, was I going to have brain damage and to what extent? The next few days my body reacted well to treatment and I was out of Intensive Care four days later. I was moved to the Neurological Unit, and here I started to remember scattered events. The next weeks were tough, I wanted to give up".

I was unable to attend my last semester of high school, but my school allowed me to graduate and walk with my classmates. I was on the road to recovery and was determined to attend college that fall. My doctors sent me for neuropsychological testing. These tests confirmed that I had sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury. I began a rigorous cognitive and physical therapy program. The doctors agreed to let me begin college with a reduced course load in the fall because I had to take things slow.

However, I never gave up. I graduated from the University of Miami with honors in December of 1999 and the University of Miami School of Medicine in May 2004!

I survived a traumatic brain injury - a result of a severe motor vehicle crash - and I was not wearing my seatbelt.

Photo ©2005. Property of Adam Blomberg