By Kim Morava
kimberly.morava@news-star.com
Amy Messner’s life today is much different than it was two years ago before a critical motorcycle accident nearly claimed her life.
Despite dealing with occasional bouts of short-term memory loss from her brain injury, Messner, 29, said she is thankful for life and her two sons, and said she feels the accident was God’s way of showing her how to live.
“It would be horrible to die at 27,” she said. “God just opened my eyes. It wasn’t my time yet.”
Messner, who is also enjoying her new life as a newlywed, also vows to never ride a motorcycle again.
“I don’t care if it’s Brad Pitt rolling up,” she said.
Messner suffered a critical head injury Nov. 3, 2007, when the motorcycle she was riding on as a passenger ran off a roadway in Seminole County.
She was transported by helicopter ambulance to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where she was hospitalized many weeks, most of them in a drug-induced coma.
Doctors weren’t expecting her to live once she woke up, she said, but she defied those odds. She was later transferred to a rehabilitation hospital, where she had to relearn everything, including walking. She would later have to relearn how to do things most people take for granted, such as cooking and driving.
“I feel like I’m still re-learning,” she said, adding that she’s a different person now. She said many things about her today are completely opposite from before the accident, especially her taste buds.
“I was a chocoholic ... I could sniff it out,” she said. “Now, I don’t care for it at all.”
Today, her short-term memory loss is her biggest challenge and has resulted in her being unable to work. She also has other physical reminders from the accident, such as a loss of hearing in her left ear and she also is unable to produce tears in her left eye.
Her day-to-day routine consists of getting her sons, Trace McDaniel, 6, and Denver Prince, 11, ready for school, then going to the gym. While some days can be boring to her, she said she keeps busy and always has plenty of household chores. After picking her sons up from school, she said they spend time together and often enjoy going to the skate park.
The day of the accident, Messner, who at that time went by the name Amy (McCollum) Prince, said she left her place of employment in Seminole with a man she had been dating, but from whom she had separated. The accident occurred when he lost control of the motorcycle after another vehicle allegedly made a U-turn in front of him, accident reports have shown.
Messner doesn’t remember anything about that day.
“I don’t remember being on the bike,” she said. Other than what she’s been told, Messner said she’ll probably never know what really happened.
While she was raised in church and went every Sunday, Messner said before the accident, she wasn’t living the right life. She said she was “all about weekends,” because she loved to dance and go to nightclubs.
“Maybe God was saying, ‘Whoa, Whoa,’” she said. “Maybe God was opening my eyes.”
Messner said she feels her life has changed for the better and she now appreciates more.
“I’m so thankful for my boys,” she said.
During her recovery, she also met the man who would become her husband and bring new joy to her life.
She met Jim Messner in May 2008 and they married on Sept. 2, 2009. They are active in their church, Bethel Acres Assembly of God.
———
Kim Morava may be reached at 214-3962.
|
|
|
By Kim Morava
kimberly.morava@news-star.com
Amy Messner’s life today is much different than it was two years ago before a critical motorcycle accident nearly claimed her life.
Despite dealing with occasional bouts of short-term memory loss from her brain injury, Messner, 29, said she is thankful for life and her two sons, and said she feels the accident was God’s way of showing her how to live.
“It would be horrible to die at 27,” she said. “God just opened my eyes. It wasn’t my time yet.”
Messner, who is also enjoying her new life as a newlywed, also vows to never ride a motorcycle again.
“I don’t care if it’s Brad Pitt rolling up,” she said.
Messner suffered a critical head injury Nov. 3, 2007, when the motorcycle she was riding on as a passenger ran off a roadway in Seminole County.
She was transported by helicopter ambulance to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where she was hospitalized many weeks, most of them in a drug-induced coma.
Doctors weren’t expecting her to live once she woke up, she said, but she defied those odds. She was later transferred to a rehabilitation hospital, where she had to relearn everything, including walking. She would later have to relearn how to do things most people take for granted, such as cooking and driving.
“I feel like I’m still re-learning,” she said, adding that she’s a different person now. She said many things about her today are completely opposite from before the accident, especially her taste buds.
“I was a chocoholic ... I could sniff it out,” she said. “Now, I don’t care for it at all.”
Today, her short-term memory loss is her biggest challenge and has resulted in her being unable to work. She also has other physical reminders from the accident, such as a loss of hearing in her left ear and she also is unable to produce tears in her left eye.
Her day-to-day routine consists of getting her sons, Trace McDaniel, 6, and Denver Prince, 11, ready for school, then going to the gym. While some days can be boring to her, she said she keeps busy and always has plenty of household chores. After picking her sons up from school, she said they spend time together and often enjoy going to the skate park.
The day of the accident, Messner, who at that time went by the name Amy (McCollum) Prince, said she left her place of employment in Seminole with a man she had been dating, but from whom she had separated. The accident occurred when he lost control of the motorcycle after another vehicle allegedly made a U-turn in front of him, accident reports have shown.
Messner doesn’t remember anything about that day.
“I don’t remember being on the bike,” she said. Other than what she’s been told, Messner said she’ll probably never know what really happened.
While she was raised in church and went every Sunday, Messner said before the accident, she wasn’t living the right life. She said she was “all about weekends,” because she loved to dance and go to nightclubs.
“Maybe God was saying, ‘Whoa, Whoa,’” she said. “Maybe God was opening my eyes.”
Messner said she feels her life has changed for the better and she now appreciates more.
“I’m so thankful for my boys,” she said.
During her recovery, she also met the man who would become her husband and bring new joy to her life.
She met Jim Messner in May 2008 and they married on Sept. 2, 2009. They are active in their church, Bethel Acres Assembly of God.
———
Kim Morava may be reached at 214-3962.
