My S.C.I Journey: A look into Spinal Cord Injuries

At the age of 23 years old I was working as a full time nurse for an in-home client as well as working at the RMC State Prison Hospital. At this time I was a single mother to a beautiful set of twins, Kemora and Keshon Haugabook. I was also preparing myself to get ready to go into the next phase of my career field by taking the necessary courses for Emergency Room Training.

At the same time I was studying to take my RBT (Registered Behavioral Tech) boards to become a Registered Behavioral Technician. I enjoyed working with Mental Health children and was given an opportunity to work with children who have autism as well as other mental health deficiencies. About a week after receiving my start date I began to prepare myself to adjust to school and work; however, on May 19, 2020 my life changed.

As I was heading to the RMC State Prison Hospital to work my shift there was a pile up with a semi truck and another vehicle that slowed up all traffic. I began to get over into the farthest lane from the accident to prevent adding to the current pile up. While switching lanes a pickup truck hit me from behind, not realizing traffic was slowing up and continued to switch lanes in the middle of traffic causing it to rear end me in my vehicle and flip me off of the interstate. I was then rushed to UF Health Shands of Jacksonville to receive trauma care, and then transferred to Brooks Rehabilitation just a few short weeks after surgery for follow up rehabilitation.

After discharging from Brooks I realized that not only was my life changing but I also had to learn to adapt with my injuries.

While still having a family at this time a lot of resources were not given to me and a lot of things that people typically would have or need I didn't have because I was only 23 years old. I wasn't disabled prior to that and I also wasn't over the age of 55 which means I didnt qualify for any resources after discharging and being home with family for a year I decided to have what is called a spinal cord injury awareness fundraiser.

my injury is not a well known injury so a lot of people weren’t aware of how I would gain the necessary resources just like I didn’t but with the help of my therapist and a few other people I met along the way I realized that a lot of things in my community needed to change so I implemented a fundraiser once a year on the date of my accident to bring close friends and family together to celebrate not only my injury but those who I've met along the way at Brooks while doing this I've met other people who had a lot of issues with not having the correct resources for example medical supplies medical equipment money and expenses to pay for therapy and doctors visits as well as transportation if your injury ends up being like mines you go from being an abled body person to now having to live life in a power wheelchair that's a huge drastic change for many people and a lot of people don't have the money to pay for all of these things out of pocket sometimes insurance doesn't cover them my organization that I've started funds supplies for those who cannot afford it I also do mentorship programs with the neighborhood hospitals so that I can go in and meet these patients as they come in post surgery just to be a friendly person to encourage them to know that you don't have to do this alone and that your life is not over I continue to strive to gain more resources and information in my city to help spread the word for those who need help with so many different things I am very passionate about what I do I have a lot of people who support me and I continue to strive to do whatever it is that I can to continue to build my organization it's not easy transitioning and these hospitals do not make it easier either especially for younger people like me I've been injured now for over 2 years and I've gained so many resources and have helped so many people along the way and I am still continuing to learn and grow resources for others so they may not have the same issues that my family and myself had while trying to transition from being independent to now being dependent on others.