Surviving and Coming Out on Top - Visitor's Story

by Helen Lowenstein
(McLean, Virginia, USA)

1993 - the worst winter in Washington DC's history. I came home on my winter vacation from Boston University to be with my mom and brother. We went to a friend's birthday party in DC. That night, we didn't make it home.

We were driving on rock creek parkway and my mom skidded on black ice and hit a tree. I had 17 hours of surgery that night. She died on the table but by the grace of God, they brought her back to life. It took us 3 years to recover.

I had broken my rt ankle, foot, right tibia, fibula, my left femer, and my left humerous in left arm. I had to teach myself to walk again. Six months in a hospital and then home-bound in a wheel chair. Three reconstructive surgeries on my right ankle.

You look at my mom and I know you would never know the pain and emotional, physical, and financial devastation we went through. It took 3 years to recover.

I am a social worker now working with the military counseling them and their families at a crisis call center. My mom is with a Congresswoman helping inner city kids get better education and technology, and my brother follows a path similar to my mom's.

We are blessed and true living miracles.