South Florida woman shares her story of survival and recovery after motorcycle accident – NBC 6 South Florida

These days, Amy Barwell says life is good.

“I feel 100 percent now,” Barwell said.

She is back on her feet, active, has completed her studies and is feeling like herself again.

“I went rock climbing and worked out in the gym,” she said.

Barwell has come a long way since February 2014.

“I just wanted to take them for a ride,” she said.

Barwell went on a motorcycle ride with her neighbor – a decision that changed her life forever.

“I was thrown a few hundred meters,” she said.

The motorcycle crashed into another vehicle and was thrown to the ground by the impact.

Her neighbor did not survive. Barwell almost didn’t make it.

“They found me with my right foot near my left shoulder,” she said. “I was bleeding from my ear.”

Barwell had fractures from head to toe.

“In the accident I shattered my pelvis into seven or eight pieces,” she said. “They put it together with screws and plates.”

She also had a brain hemorrhage, a broken ankle, torn ligaments and was in a coma for two weeks. She underwent brain surgery during which doctors removed a third of her skull.

Barwell spent months wearing a helmet and learning to walk and talk again.

“I kind of had to relearn how to write,” she said. “Reading required a little more concentration and perhaps some finger tracing of a page.”

She was in a wheelchair and had to undergo physical therapy for months.

It’s a difficult time that she’s reflecting on with the celebration of National Trauma Survivor’s Day later this month.

She said the biggest struggle is staying positive.

“It was very devastating,” Barwell said. “How am I supposed to get back from there? Where should I start? What injury do I start with?”

“The pain she was in was almost unbearable,” said Douglas Dillon, a physical therapist at Broward Health North.

Dillon helped Barwell recover.

“Due to the extent of her injuries, we didn’t know how far she could walk,” he said. “When we finished, she started running.”

A year after the accident, Barwell was able to walk again.

Her trauma motivated her to go back to school at Florida Atlantic University and graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2018.

Her care team was there to support her on graduation day. Her ICU nurse even pinned her for her nursing pinning ceremony.

“Without these people, my life wouldn’t be as fulfilling,” Barwell said.

Despite the long road to recovery, Barwell says she wouldn’t change a thing.

“I wouldn’t go back and stop my accident from happening,” she said.

She shares her story to inspire others who have survived similar trauma to never lose hope.

“If you just keep trying, you might even surprise yourself,” Barwell said. “Just don’t give up.”